Iran Reiterates Iraq Support

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran on Saturday renewed support for Iraqi government and nation and said the new proposals it had presented for discussion in the fourth round of its talks with Americans on Iraq fall within the same framework.“We stress that Iran will in talks (with the US) only mind interests of Iraqi nation and government. In the former rounds of talks with the other (US) party too we reached agreement on the need to guarantee Iraq’s territorial integrity. The fourth round of the negotiations will also take place on a request by Americans,” rapporteur of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali told Alalam Saturday.

Iran’s envoy to Baghdad, Hassan Kezemi Qomi, said Saturday that Iran had set forth a set of proposals on Iraq security, which may pave the way for gaining a positive outcome in the next round of the Iran-US talks.

Without going into details, the diplomat said the proposals had been welcomed by Iraqi authorities in a meeting with a visiting Iranian delegation in Baghdad.

Asked about the nature of the proposals, Jalali told Alalam that Iran has presented the initiative in a bid to save Iraqi nation and government from ongoing disastrous situation, help restore security and stability in Iraq, support government of Nuri al-Maliki and emphasize guaranteeing the country’s territorial integrity.

“The proposals Iran has raised in Iraq case are in line with interests of the country’s government and nation, following the goal of bringing all Iraqi political parties close to each other,” he commented.

Criticizing the US mass political propaganda against Tehran, he added, “Under present juncture, the US government tries to lay off the blame of its Iraq failure on other countries. Presently, the US government suffers from many failures in Iraq because they stepped in the country to implement many of their plans but were defeated. They, however, sit at the negotiation table and then back down from the agreements (they reached during the talks) and raised negative claims against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Iranian lawmaker also hit at the White House and the US foreign policy architects, accusing them of heightening tension in the region.