Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya has warned about attempts to weaken relations between Iran and Iraq and drag Iraq into a regional confrontation.

“We are concerned about possible negative impact of the situation around Iran that is being inflated artificially on the internal political situation in Iraq. Attempts to drag the country in the regional confrontation destabilize the domestic environment in Iraq,” website of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN quoted him as saying on Tuesday at a UN Security Council briefing on Iraq.

“Iraq has the right to build and develop good relations with its neighbors. No one has the right to undermine those relations,” Nebenzya added.

A group of rioters stormed into the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic mission in Najaf on November 27 and set it ablaze. They also replaced the Iranian flag with an Iraqi one. Reportedly, the consulate had already been evacuated of its staff.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali al-Hakim apologized to the Islamic Republic for the act.

This was the second attack on an Iranian diplomatic mission in Iraq after its office in the Shia holy city of Karbala was attacked last month.

Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi said on November 28 that the attack was aimed at damaging relations between Iran and Iraq.

“Definitely, the objective behind setting fire on Iran’s consulate in Najaf is damaging good and brotherly relations between the two neighboring countries of Iran and Iraq by certain foreign and internal elements in Iraq,” the ambassador remarked.

Masjedi noted that the good relationship between Iran and Iraq have made certain countries in the region angry.

He called on the Iranian people to practice self-restraint, noting that actions done by a limited number of rioters do not reflect actions of the Iraqi people.

Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad said in tweet on November 29 that British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has expressed concern over attack on Iran’s consulate.

NA/PA