SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said accelerating the implementation of a resolution on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq will boost regional stability, according to Iran’s state news agency.
Shamkhani met with Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji in Tehran on Monday, after the Iraqi security official paid a visit to Iran at the request of the Iranian official.
He said the United States was the “biggest cause of organized insecurity and terrorism in the region,” IRNA reported on Monday.
“Accelerating the implementation of the Iraqi parliament’s law on the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Iraq will stabilize the region,” Shamkhani told Araji in the meeting, IRNA said.
In January 2020, the Iraqi Council of Representatives passed a resolution calling on the government to end all foreign troop presence in Iraq, a backlash grew after the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
The resolution’s main aim was to get the United States to withdraw its troops present in different parts of Iraq.
Parliament’s resolution, unlike laws, are non-binding to the Iraqi government.
Iraq and Iran have also formed a joint committee to investigate the killing of Iran’s general, according to Tehran Times.
“Prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of this terrorist crime is one of the priorities of the security cooperation between the two countries, and in this regard, we expect more from the Iraqi government,” Tehran Times quoted Shamkhani as saying.
The Iraqi national security advisor, for his part, praised “Iran’s strategic role in stabilizing the region and combating terrorism”, IRNA reported.
Araji also met with Iranian foreign ministry Mohammed Javad Zarif, saying Iraq wanted strong and constructive relations with its neighbor Iran and the world, his office said in a statement.
