Zarif concludes his Baghdad visit, satisfied with “fruitful” meetings

Tabnak – While the United States tries to influence Iran’s relations with its neighbors as part of its strategy of imposing maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic, Tehran has increased the level of its diplomatic activities in order to nullify Washington’s plans. Iranian foreign minister’s recent visit to Iraq was a step in this direction.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed satisfaction with the results of his fruitful visit to Iraq, predicting a very bright future for the political and economic ties between Tehran and Baghdad.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad at the conclusion of his trip to Iraq, Zarif said his longest ever trip to a foreign nation as the foreign minister was very good.

“We had very good meetings with the Iraqi officials and held perfect meetings with the local authorities, the private sector representatives, as well as a number of the civil society activists and tribal chiefs in all of the cities we visited,” Zarif noted.

Praising the “historical ties” between Iran and Iraq, the foreign minister said such bilateral bonds are “not fake” and Iranians do not need to travel to Iraq in a sneaky manner, unlike the US president.

“I believe that the future of relations between Iran and Iraq, both the political and economic ties, is very bright and will become better day by day by God’s grace,” he added. Zarif also noted that the Iraqi president will soon pay a visit to Iran.

Zarif arrived in Iraq on Sunday for talks with senior officials in Baghdad and the country's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on ways to enhance cooperation in different areas, over a year after Iraq managed to clear its entire soil of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists on the back of a Tehran-backed military campaign.

Zarif's visit followed that of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited Baghdad and Erbil as part of a seven-day tour of the Middle East, which had a hostile anti-Iran agenda.

Prior to Pompeo, US President Donald Trump had paid a controversial secret visit to American troops in Iraq, which triggered wave of condemnations from the Arab country’s political and military leaders.

In Iraq, Pompeo made no official mention of Iran, but he repeatedly attacked Iran in his other destinations. Pompeo described the US as a “force for good” in the Middle East, and accused former US President Barack Obama of having sowed chaos by abandoning the Middle East.

Zarif scolded his US counterpart and said actually the opposite of Pompeo’s comments was true. “Whenever/wherever US interferes, chaos, repression, and resentment follow,” he tweeted last week.

Also today, Zarif said Pompeo has no right to interfere in Iran-Iraq affairs. “Iran and Iraq have had relations before the formation of the US administration, and will maintain ties for a pretty long time,” the top Iranian diplomat concluded.

Baghdad -- which heavily relies on Iranian electricity and natural gas imports to meet its energy needs -- has said it is "not obliged" to abide by unilateral US sanctions against Iran. It says it is considering options to bypass those bans and maintain trade ties with its neighbor.