TEHRAN – Head of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce says banking relations between the two countries will get much better if the Americans leave the Arab country and their interference ends.

“Americans are disrupting Iran-Iraq business relations. They are interfering with the Iraqi Central Bank and not allowing the Iraqi private sector to have normal relations [with Iran],” Seyed Hamid Hosseini told IRNA on Thursday.

In an extraordinary session on January 5, the Iraqi parliament voted for a resolution requiring the government to order the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The session came two days after a U.S. drone strike on a convoy at Baghdad airport which killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Mentioning the recent unrest in Iraq, Hosseini said the trade relations between the two countries are running smoothly and normally.

“However, exports to central Iraq have witnessed a small decrease while exports to the Iraqi Kurdistan region have increased,” he added.

The economic and political relations between Iran and Iraq have increased significantly in the past few years and the two neighbors are seeking ways to facilitate financial transactions and boost their trade ties.

The number of exchanged trade delegations between the two countries has increased drastically in the past two years and they have held several business forums and joint committee meetings.

The two country’s officials have constantly stated that the two sides have it on agenda to boost their mutual trade to $20 billion by 2021.

EF/MA