Support for Iraqi Sovereignty Reaffirmed

A senior official underlined Tehran’s strong opposition to any plot to breakup Iraq, saying Tehran supports the neighboring country’s territorial integrity. Iran will do its best to support the Iraqi nation, Izadi minority in particular, Ali Akbar Velayati, a foreign policy advisor to the Leader of Islamic Revolution, told a group of visiting Iraqi Izadi minority figures, lawmakers and elite on Tuesday.  “We emphasize on [preserving] Iraq’s integrity and preventing its disintegration and we support the country’s territorial integrity,” Velayati noted, Tasnim News Agency reported. 

He praised the Izadi forces’ cooperation with the Iraqi volunteer forces in the fight against the self-styled Islamic State militants, and voiced optimism about the imminent liberation of the city of Mosul from IS.

IS militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.