Tehran, IRNA- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has slammed the US military presence in Iraq, saying, “The presence of even one American in Iraq is too much.”
"Americans are not friends with anyone and are not even loyal to their European allies," Ayatollah Khamenei said as he received Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid during a meeting in Tehran on Saturday.
President Rashid is in Tehran at the head of a high-ranking delegation for his first official visit to the Islamic Republic since taking office on October.
The Supreme Leader noted Iran and Iraq enjoy such strong unity that cannot be disrupted by outside influence.
He said this unity, among other things, is manifested by the hospitality that the Iraqi people bestow on Iranian pilgrims during the annual march of Arbaeen.
"The expansion and deepening of relations between Iran and Iraq have strong enemies, and if it was not for the strong historical and religious ties between the two countries, the state of relations would perhaps return to the conditions of Saddam's era,” the Leader pointed out.
Ayatollah Khamenei told President Rashid that “progress, prosperity, independence and elevation” of Iraq are paramount for the Islamic Republic, and emphasized the importance of implementing the existing agreements between the two neighboring countries.
“The expansion of bilateral cooperation and the implementation of agreements are beneficial for both countries,” the Leader said.
Iran and Iraq have signed a raft of cooperation agreements in recent years, covering trade, transit of commodities, and railway projects.
Most recently, the two countries signed a security and defense memorandum last month, aimed primarily at boosting border security in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where Iran says armed groups pose a threat to its security.
During the meeting, which was also attended by the Iranian president, Rashid said, “Our relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are continuous, strong and multi-dimensional.”
“Iraq will make utmost efforts to deepen its relations with Iran and implement some of the remaining issues between the two countries,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Rashid was welcomed by President Ebrahim Raisi at Saadabad Palace in northern Tehran, where the two sat down for wide-ranging talks.
At a press conference after their meeting, Raisi hailed the “strategic” relations between Tehran and Baghdad, and said both sides were determined to further expand economic, trade, energy, transit, and security cooperation.
