With an Eye to US Waivers, Iraq Seeks Increased Trade with Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The foreign minister of Iraq expressed his country’s willingness to boost trade exchanges with Iran considering his recent negotiations with Washington about Baghdad’s exemption from the US sanctions against Tehran.
Fuad Hussein and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian at a meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday talked about a broad range of issues, from the economic and political cooperation between the two neighbors to the judicial actions to pursue the case of the American assassination of Iranian and Iraqi commanders, Lt. General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Referring to his recent negotiations with Washington on how to exempt Iraq from the US sanctions hampering trade with Iran, Hussein said the Baghdad government is determined to facilitate trade and banking interaction with Tehran.
He also reiterated that Iraq, in accordance with its Constitution, will never allow any party to use its territories to pose a threat to the neighbors.
For his part, the top Iranian diplomat highlighted the great capacities for economic cooperation between the two countries, expressing hope for the removal of obstacles to the settlement of Iraq’s debts to Iran.
Pointing to the “strategic commonalities” between Iran and Iraq, Amirabdollahian hoped that the document on security cooperation between the two neighbors would be finalized soon.
He also dismissed as unacceptable the activities of some separatist and terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, appreciating Iraq’s efforts to resolve the problem.
Heading a diplomatic delegation, Amirabdollahian has visited Baghdad at the invitation of Fuad Hussein.
Upon their arrival in Iraq on Tuesday night, the Iranian foreign minister and his entourage visited a memorial site near Baghdad airport built in commemoration of former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Lt. General Qassem Soleimani.
General Soleimani was assassinated in a US strike on January 3, 2020, when he was on an official visit to Baghdad. Hitting his convoy, the barbaric assault also led to the martyrdom of many others, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, then deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi anti-terror force.