By IANS,
Tehran : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Thursday expressed his country’s solidarity with Iraq in its efforts to restore peace and stability, IRNA news agency reported.
The Iranian president described Iraq as a country with great culture and civilization which has the potential to play an effective role in regional and global politics.
Ahmadinejad made this statement during his meeting with Iraqi Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi, who is in Iran to seek Tehran’s help in reconstructing the war-torn country.
“Enemies strive to prevent turning Iraq into a base against arrogance,” Ahmadinejad told Mahdi referring to the US occupation in Iraq and the Bush administration’s policy on Iraq War.
“Iraq is moving forward to the great Muslim World as it gets out of the closed circle of the world arrogance,” he said.
“The Iraqi government and nation will pass through very difficult situation to build a bright future. The situation in Iraq has changed thanks to efforts made by the Iraqi government and wisdom of Iraqi religious leaders with reliance on God,” the Iranian president added.
Stressing the cultural bonhomie between the two countries, Ahmadinejad said that “both Iran and Iraq enjoy historical and deep-rooted ties” and stressed that progress and security of Iraq would be in favour of Iran’s development.
Abdul Mahdi, for his part, said that the recent visit by President Ahmadinejad to Baghdad was a turning point in the modern history of Iraq which strengthen unity and coherence among Iraqi groups.
He added that the Iraqi people always appreciated support of Iranian people and government in line with their own progress.
He stated that Iraq could not achieve success in different political and security fields without the support of its own citizens and also the support of neighbouring countries.