Iranian Defense Minister Urges Closer Security Ties with Iraq
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan on Tuesday voiced Tehran’s willingness to promote security cooperation with neighboring Iraq.
In a message to Khaled al-Obeidi, Dehqan congratulated him on his appointment as Iraq’s new defense minister and announced that the Iranian Defense Ministry is ready to boost security cooperation between the two counties.
“I hope that during your tenure, we will witness an immediate end to threats posed by the enemies of security and stability in Iraq and the complete annihilation of terrorist groups through boosting the Iraqi armed forces’ power and promoting the country’s national solidarity,” Brigadier General Dehqan said in the message.
He also invited the Iraqi defense minister to pay an official visit to the Islamic Republic at the earliest opportunity.
The Iraqi parliament on Saturday voted to approve the appointment of Obeidi, a Sunni from the northern city of Mosul as the defense minister.
Obeidi belongs to the party of Vice President Usama al-Nujaifi and is a confidant of his brother Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh province that was overrun by militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
