Iran urges Iraq against hosting ‘disruptive security presence’

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned neighboring Iraq on Thursday no longer to allow its soil for use for activities  that disrupt the Islamic republic’s safety, his office said.

His remarks follow accusations by using Iran remaining month that Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan area had hosted a “strategic center” utilized by Tehran’s arch enemy Israel.

“The president emphasized that Iran strongly expects neighboring nations, particularly Iraq, no longer to allow any presence that is disruptive to the security of the Islamic republic,” a declaration by using Raisi’s workplace stated.

The president accused Iraq’s Kurdistan region of “negligence”, adding that Iran is closely monitoring the movements of Israel and will not allow it to endanger the security of the region through any country, including Iraq.

The Iranian president made the remarks in Tehran during a meeting with visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

Iraq’s top diplomat pledged that his country will not be a base for actions against Iran’s security, the statement added.

“We are ready for extensive cooperation, including in the field of security, to prevent any threat to the interests of Iran,” Fuad said, according to Raisi’s office.

Last month, Iran targeted the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, with a dozen ballistic missiles that lightly wounded two civilians.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the country’s military, confirmed at the time that they fired the projectiles and targeted a “strategic center” used by Israel.

Arbil governor Oumid Khouchnaw dismissed as “baseless” any notion of Israeli sites in and around Arbil, saying “there are no Israeli sites in the region.”

The Iraqi foreign ministry condemned the attack and summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest the strikes.

Iran holds considerable affect over the federal authorities in Baghdad.

“Iraq considers itself now not most effective a neighbor but additionally an best friend and a friend of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian presidency further quoted Baghdad’s pinnacle diplomat as saying on Thursday.