TEHRAN - Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the special advisor to the Iranian Parliament speaker for international affairs, says Pope Francis would not have been able to visit Iraq safely if it had not been for the sacrifices of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions in the fight against ISIS, according to Press TV.

The Pope’s safe visit to Baghdad would never have happened “had it not been for the significant self-sacrifices of [Iraqi commander] Abu Mahdi Muhandis, Lieutenant General Soleimani and those who were martyred in the fight against terrorism and Daesh in Iraq and the broader region,” he wrote in a tweet on Friday.

General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were assassinated early last year in a U.S. drone strike ordered by former American president Donald Trump.

The two commanders enjoyed enormous popularity not just in Iran and Iraq but in the entire West Asia and beyond for the major role they played in the successful battles that ultimately put an end to the territorial rule of ISIS, the world’s most notorious terror group. 

Amir-Abdollahian further denounced Washington’s interventionist policies in Iraq and West Asia, which he blamed as the root cause of instability there.

“America’s meddling and the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq and [elsewhere] in the region continue to be a source of instability,” he remarked.

Over three years into the fall of the ISIS in Iraq and more than a year after the brutal American murder, Pope Francis on Friday arrived at Baghdad airport, as the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit the West Asian country.

He told reporters on his plane that he felt duty-bound to make the “emblematic” trip because the country “has been martyred for so many years.”

In a speech after being welcomed by Iraqi President Barham Salih, the pontiff called for an end to violence and extremism.

“May the clash of arms be silenced...may there be an end to acts of violence and extremism,” he said.
He also criticized foreign meddling that have destabilized Iraq and the region and hit ordinary people the hardest.

Pope Francis also met top Shia Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in Najaf.

EE/PA