Iraqi PM:

Iraq will never be a place for hostility with Iran

Rasa - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has stressed that his country will never be a place for animosity toward Iran after an Iraqi vice president made hostile statements against the Islamic Republic.

News ID: 430428

Date: 18 June 2017 - 22:31

RNA - Abadi said late Saturday that he would not allow Iraq to be turned into a battlefield between Iran and the US or the Iraqi soil to be used as a place for animosity against the Islamic Republic.

"If we are given the rule of the entire world and promised free reconstruction, we will not engage in hostility towards Iran," he added.

Earlier this week, Iraqi Vice President Iyad Allawi accused Iran of interfering in his country’s decision-making, saying, “We hope that the Iraqis would choose themselves without any involvement by any foreign power,” in reference to a parliamentary election next year.

Speaking during a visit to Egypt, he also accused Qatar of having promoted a plan to split Iraq.

"In Iraq, Qatar adopted a project similar to that of Iran; to split Iraq into a Sunni region in exchange for a Shia region," he claimed.

Abadi criticized Allawi’s remarks against Tehran and Doha as unacceptable, saying that the brickbats were meant to appease Egypt at a time of soured Cairo-Doha relations.

He further censured US support for the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which consists of Kurdish militants, warning that the policy would result in Syria’s disintegration.

Iraq supports no armed groups in Syria and only cooperates with the Syrian government with some considerations, Abadi pointed out.

The Daesh terrorist group unleashed its campaign of death and destruction in Iraq in 2014, seizing the northern city of Mosul and declaring it as its stronghold in the Arab country.

The Iraqi army soldiers and allied volunteer fighters have been leading a major operation to rid the country of Takfiri elements.

At Baghdad’s request, Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to Iraq in its counterterrorism campaign.

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