Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says his government will never take any measure that may sabotage Baghdad's relationship with neighboring Iran under any circumstances because Tehran provided enormous support to Iraq as it was facing an "existential struggle".
"The war in Iraq is a matter of life and death for us and it was Iran that stood by Baghdad during this war," Abadi said in an interview with the Arabic-language news channel Al Mayadeen on Monday, the Fars news agency reported.
He said unlike the United States that was hesitant to lend its support to Iraq, Iran did not "hesitate for one minute" to back the Iraqi military as well as Kurdish peshmerga fighters.
"Tehran regards any threat to Baghdad as a direct threat to its own interests, since we both have common interests," the official noted. Iranian officials have frequently stated that Tehran backs the governments in Iraq and Syria in their campaigns against terrorism because it believes the security of the Arab countries is intertwined with that of its own.
Iran has provided Baghdad and Damascus with assistance in the forms of military advice and training to help them deal with terrorist groups, particularly the so-called Islamic State (IS).
