No Message from Tehran Conveyed to Riyadh by Iraqi President: Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected media reports that Iraqi President Barham Salih is mediating between Tehran and Riyadh by passing on a message.
The Iraqi president conveyed no special message from Iran to the Saudi government, Qassemi told reporters at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday.
In a statement earlier today, Salih’s office had denied the media reports carried by some Persian Gulf Arab states that he is mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Such stories are untrue, the statement said, adding that it is necessary to refer to authentic reports from reliable sources that comply with professional media norms.
As regards the details of Salih’s regional tour, the statement underlined that Iraq does not play the role of a mediator and only tries to stay away from the consequences of regional conflicts.
The president of Iraq arrived in Tehran on Saturday with a ranking delegation for a series of political and economic talks.
After talks with top Iranian officials, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, Salih travelled to Saudi Arabia as part of a tour that had taken him earlier to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
