Plots Underway to Undermine Tehran-Baghdad Ties

A senior official warned against hostile plots to undermine strong relations between Tehran and Baghdad.

Speaking in a meeting with Iraqi Ambassador in Tehran Rajeh Saber Abboud al-Mousavi on Monday, Ali Akbar Velayati, who is the head of the Center for Strategic Research of Iran's Expediency Council, described growing ties between the two neighboring countries as age-old, Tasnim News Agency reported.

"Religious, historical and cultural commonalities are among the reasons behind the two nations' deep relations," he said.

"The enemy is seeking to weaken the remarkable and strong relations by undermining people's beliefs. Today's war of enemies and their plots are targeting ideological and cultural backgrounds of Islamic nations."

The Iraqi diplomat described the current level of Tehran-Baghdad relations as "a historical opportunity" and said in his recent meeting with a UN envoy, he emphasized that the UN should be grateful to Iran because if it had not been for the country, not only Iraq, but also the entire region should have fallen into the hands of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group.

Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by IS.

IS militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014 and captured large swathes of northern Syria.

However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for volunteers to fight the militants, blunted the edge of IS offensive.

Amid tensions in Iraq, Iran is known as the first country to come to the aid of the Arab country and has always voiced support for Iraq's solidarity and prosperity.