Iran calls for broadening of trade ties with Iraq

'As the two countries have developed bilateral ties in the political field, they should also try to boost the level of their economic and banking cooperation,' Jahangiri said in a meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Tehran on Thursday.

He, meantime, pointed to the success of the Iraqi government in preventing their country from being partitioned, and said, 'The Iraqi Kurdistan Region's separation plan was a great sedition that could have spread to other countries in the region.'

The Iranian vice president stressed that all Iraqi Kurds are entitled to every legal right as an Iraqi national, and said that Tehran took a supporting stand alongside Iraqi central government since the issue of the independence referendum was raised.

The Iraqi prime minister, for his part, said that his country is preparing for a final military operation against the Daesh (ISIS) terrorists, adding that it will be a liberating fight for the Iraqi nation.

'The Iraqi Army and the popular forces have been able to liberate many areas from the terrorist groups; hankfully, these battles against the ISIL have provided a ground for further unity and solidarity in Iraq,' al-Abadi added.

The Iraqi prime minister went on to discuss the Kurdistan region’s illegal referendum on independence, and said, 'Fortunately, there was no international support for the separatists, and the only side which backed the referendum was the Zionist regime.”

He further hailed the coordination among Iran, Iraq and Turkey on the Iraqi Kurdistan referendum, and said, 'We want the Kurds to remain as Iraqi nationals, because the northern Iraq is still a part of Iraq.”

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