SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said an agreement between the United States and Iran is “very important” and “crucial” for the region’s stability.
Kadhimi said in an interview with Italy’s newspaper la Repubblica published on Friday that any success in the talks between the six world powers with Iran would “positively” affect the region and would serve Iraq’s stability.
“An agreement between Iran and the United States is very important. It is crucial for the region and I think it is verifiable,” Kadhimi added, according his office.
Iran and the United States have been holding indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers that imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.
The Vienna talks, which began in April, are now in a pause that had been expected to last until early July. Diplomats from both sides have said major differences remain and want the other side to make greater concessions before resuming.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the agreement in 2018, to which Tehran responded by starting to violate some of the nuclear limits in 2019 while sticking to its position that it had no nuclear weapons ambitions.
Kadhimi further said he had asked the United States and Iran to refrain from settling their accounts in Iraq.
“For years, we have been an arena of collision and conflict. We must choose the path of political dialogue to resolve differences, and everyone will benefit from the fruits of truce,” his office cited him as saying.
“We want Iraq to be one of the countries that successfully manage crises, and not one of those countries that cause or are affected by them,” he added.
The Iraqi government is wary of getting dragged into a U.S.-Iran conflict. It is struggling to deal with militias ideologically aligned with Iran which are accused of rocket fire against U.S. forces and of involvement in killing peaceful pro-democracy activists.
U.S. officials believe Iran is behind a ramp-up in increasingly sophisticated drone attacks and periodic rocket fire against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, where the U.S. military has been helping Baghdad combat the remnants of Islamic State.
On Saturday, Iran denied U.S. accusations that Tehran supported attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
Iran’s envoy to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi said: “Any claim to attribute to Iran… any attack carried out against American personnel or facilities in Iraq is factually wrong and void of the minimum requirements of authenticity and reliability.”
