TEHRAN - Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a senior and veteran Iranian MP who sits on the Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has said that Iraq must take decisions as an independent country without any foreign interference.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that Iraq must take decisions as an independent country. We strongly oppose illegal interferences,” he told ISNA in an interview published on Monday.

The MP also said that foreign forces must leave Iraq.

“The United States’ bases in Iraq means lack of respect for the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he noted.

Hassan Danaeefar, the former Iranian ambassador to Iraq, told ILNA in an interview published on Saturday that the U.S. has no choice other than exiting its forces from Iraq.

“The people of Iraq will not let the United States influence the country’s sovereignty, and Washington has no way but leaving Iraq,” he said.

He noted that many of the U.S. forces are leaving bases in Iraq and the country’s demand is being fulfilled.

The Iraqi Parliament voted on January 5 to expel the U.S. troops from Iraq.

In an interview with Tasnim news agency in January, Danaeefar said that it is essential that the U.S. leave Iraq now that the Iraqi parliament has voted to expel American forces from the country.

The Iraqi people have the experience of fighting the U.S. occupation, the ambassador said, predicting the Iraqis will rise against U.S. forces if they refuse to leave the country. 

“So, if the occupant does not respect the Iraqis’ approval, they [the Iraqis] will fight them,” he said.

He said if the U.S. refuses to leave, Iraq can file a complaint in international courts.

The U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003 under the false claim that the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction. The invasion took place despite repeated confirmations by international bodies, including the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iraq did not have any secret weapons program.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, has said that the U.S. must leave the region, noting that the U.S. is unwelcome in the region.

“Iraq and the region are dissatisfied with the presence of the United States, and the United States must respect the Iraqi parliament’s approval to end the United States’ military presence,” IRNA quoted him as saying in an interview with Aljazeera in January.

He said the Iraqi parliament’s approval is the result of more than 17 years of the U.S. occupation of the country.

Boroujerdi wishes Kadhimi success

Boroujerdi also wished success for new-designated Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Iraqi President Barham Salih named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as prime minister-designate on Thursday.

Kadhimi is the third person to be named to the post in just over two months.

Kadhimi was nominated by Salih, shortly after the previous designated prime minister, Adnan al-Zurfi, announced he was withdrawing having failed to secure enough support to pass a government.

Iraj Masjedi, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, has said that Iran supports designation of Kadhimi as the new prime minister.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran respects Iraq’s law and political system and supports any figure who has been nominated through legal procedure and after gaining the parliament’s vote of confidence,” he tweeted, ISNA reported on Sunday.

Masjedi said on Friday that Iran has a “positive view” on designation of Kadhimi as the new prime minister.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran respects Iraq’s law and political system and supports anyone who has been designated through the legal procedure and gaining vote of the country’s parliament,” he told IRNA.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on Thursday welcoming the naming of al-Kadhimi as prime minister, calling his nomination to the post “as the right decision at the right time”.

Iran has been on side of Iraq since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003. It was the first country that recognized the first post-Saddam ruling system in Iraq. 

Iran also rushed to the help of Iraq when the terrorist Daesh group suddenly captured large swathes of the Iraqi territory in northwest Iraq.

The religious and cultural affinities between Iraq and Iraq are also very strong. Every year millions of citizens from each country visit holy shrines in either country.

NA/PA