Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described economic predicaments and presence of terrorists in Iraq as the major issues facing the Arab country, stressing the need for regional assistance for resolving the problems.
“Regional countries and the United Nations need to join hands to find a logical way out of the problems that have beset the Iraqi nation,” the top Iranian diplomat told UN Special Representative for Iraq Jan Kubis in a meeting in Tehran on Saturday, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Zarif referred to the campaign against terrorist groups in Iraq, particularly the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, as an overriding priority, voicing Iran’s preparedness to contribute to the fight.
Kubis hailed Iran’s constructive role in helping the UN address the challenges in Iraq.
Iraq has been engaged in the fight against IS terrorists since the summer of 2014, when the militants took control of the major city of Mosul in the north of the country and some other areas in the country.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and popular forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani issued a fatwa calling for jihad against the militants, blunted the edge of the IS offensive and led to the liberation of many areas.
