Alwaght- Iraqi President Barham Salih arrived on Saturday in Iran where he said his country is determined to expand relations with the neighboring Islamic Republic in all areas.
Salih told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani that the Iraqis would never forget Iran's support for them in fighting the terrorists, stressing that the terrorists would not have been defeated had it not been for the support of the Iranian people, Press TV reported.
He said Baghdad attached great significance to the expansion of its relations with Tehran, stressing that much work still needed to be done to elevate the current level of relations between the two countries to new highs - what he said both the Iraqis and the Iranians deserved to enjoy.
Salih's remarks came shortly after indications grew in Baghdad that Iraq was not willing to cooperate with the administration of US President Donald Trump in sanctioning trade with Iran.
Washington has been trying to force Baghdad to distance itself from Tehran as it restored sanctions against Iran earlier this month. It even gave a deadline of 45 days to Iraq to stop purchasing natural gas from Iran. However, the media quoted a top Iraqi official as saying that Washington's deadline could not be accepted, warning that any halt to the supplies would create a real power crisis.
“Stopping Iranian gas after the deadline will create a real power crisis. We need more time … the Americans are completely aware of how desperately we need Iranian gas,” an Iraqi official was quoted by media as saying on Wednesday.
The port of Basra in southern Iraq was hit by violent protests, which spread to other cities this summer, partly because of a halt of imports of electricity from Iran.
Iraq has rejected a US deadline to stop importing Iranian gas, warning that any halt to the supplies would create a real power crisis.
Meanwhile, Iran's President Rouhani said his country would try to raise the level of annual bilateral trade to $20 billion from the current level of $12 billion.
"Today, the economic relations between the two countries reach about $12 billion (per year) and, through bilateral efforts, we can raise this figure to $20 billion," Rouhani told visiting his Iraqi counterpart Salih in a joint press conference.
This is Salih’s fourth regional trip and the first one to Iran since taking office on October 2. He has so far visited Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan in his capacity as president.
Tehran and Baghdad have shared a unique alliance since the end of the reign of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The alliance has featured joint regional counter-terrorism efforts, including intelligence sharing and presence of Iranian military advisors on Iraq's soil in support of the Arab country’s operations against terrorist outfits.
Washington has been trying to force Baghdad to distance itself from Tehran as it restored sanctions against Iran earlier this month. However, Iraq has made it clear it would not abide by the anti-Iran sanctions as they would harm it, too.
Earlier in the year, Baghdad also successfully requested and earned a waiver from Washington’s sanctions targeting Iran’s oil imports.
