Iraqi PM Archives - Iran News Daily

Iraqi PM in Tehran for High-Level Talks

mahla — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 21:42:29 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) –Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi arrived in Tehran yesterday at the head of a high-ranking politico-economic delegation to hold high-level talks with senior Iranian officials on the most important mutual and international issues.

Kadhimi was welcomed by Iran’s Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian upon his arrival at the Iranian capital on Sunday.

The Iraqi premier was officially welcomed by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi later the same day.

Following the official welcoming ceremony, the two sides sit for talks on matters of mutual interest.

The Iranian and Iraqi officials are likely to discuss the resumption of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, among other topics, the fifth round of which was held in April.

Before his Iran visit, Kadhimi had visited Saudi Arabia, where he was welcomed by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman. The two leaders also discussed potential areas for joint cooperation and exchanged views and opinions on a number of regional and global issues “which contribute to supporting and strengthening security and stability in the region,” Saudi Press Agency reported.

Some media outlets claimed al-Kadhimi arrived in Tehran on a visit aimed at reactivating Baghdad-mediated talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In early June, al-Kadhimi said that talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia hosted by Baghdad have entered an advanced stage.

He stressed that talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia hosted by Baghdad have entered a remarkably advanced stage.

Addressing Iraq’s foreign relations and regional role of this country, the Iraqi premier said that Baghdad played an important role in bringing the views of countries in the region closer by hosting talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In recent years the relation between Tehran and Baghdad has become strong and the trade volume of the two countries has increased considerably and it hit $9.5b last year which was $1.5m more than their trade in the preceding year.

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Iran condemns assassination attempt against Iraqi PM

mahla — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 13:53:56 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian foreign ministry has reacted to the assassination attempt targeting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi early on Sunday, describing it as a “conspiracy” aimed at disrupting Iraq’s stability and security.

“Condemning the targeting of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh stressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s firm and consistent position in support of stability, security and tranquility in Iraq,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday morning.

The statement come after Iraq’s security forces announced that al-Kadhimi survived an exploding drone assassination attempt early on Sunday.

The prime minister confirmed on Twitter that he was safe after the attack. “I was and still am a redemption project for Iraq and the people of Iraq. The missiles of treachery will not discourage the believers and will shake a hair of the stability and determination of our heroic security forces to preserve people’s security, achieve justice, and set the law in place. Thank God, I am fine and among my people. I call for calmness and restraint from all for the sake of Iraq,” he said.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh called for vigilance and said there were conspiracies targeting Iraq’s security and prosperity.

“The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman called on everyone to be aware of the conspiracies that have targeted Iraq’s security and development, saying such incidents are in the interests of those who have violated Iraq’s stability, security, independence and territorial integrity over the past 18 years and by creating terrorist and sedition groups, they have sought to achieve their sinister regional goals,” the statement noted.

Expressing satisfaction over the safety of the Iraqi prime minister, Khatibzadeh expressed his hope that the people, the government and the Iraqi political groups would contribute to the development and prosperity of Iraq through unity and solidarity.

The statement was the second Iranian reaction to the developments in Iraq. The first reaction came from the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, who attributed the attempt on the Iraqi prime minister’s life to foreign think tanks.

“The attempt for Al-Kadhimi’s terror is a new sedition that must be traced back to foreign think tanks, which have brought nothing but insecurity, discord & instability to oppressed Iraqi people through creation & support of terrorist groups & occupation of this country for years,” Shamkhani said on Twitter.

Al-Khadhimi’s residence in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad was targeted by three suicide drones, two of which were intercepted and downed by security forces.

Six members of Kadhimi’s personal protection force stationed outside his residence in the Green Zone were wounded, security sources told Reuters. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Several influential Iraqi figures and officials reacted to the attack. President Barham Salih condemned the attack as a heinous crime against Iraq. “We cannot accept that Iraq will be dragged into chaos and a coup against its constitutional system,” he said in a tweet.

Images published by Iraqi media outlets showed that parts of the prime minister’s house were damaged, with the house itself littered with rubble resulting from the explosion.

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Iraqi PM Orders Probing into Deaths of Baghdad Protesters

reporter 1222 — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 06:23:08 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered police to launch a swift investigation into the deaths of two protesters during clashes with security forces in the capital Baghdad on the weekend.

The third of these Iraqi protesters died Tuesday after being shot with a tear gas canister in overnight skirmishes with police in the capital, medical and security sources told AFP.

Human rights monitors and officials reported Monday that two people had lost their lives after a protest at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square over the Arab country’s economic woes turned violent overnight, Press TV reported.

It was the first such deadly incident at Tahrir Square since Kadhimi took office in May. The site became a symbol of anti-government protests during last year’s mass rallies.

The protesters chanted slogans against worsening public services and power cuts during a heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 50 degrees Celsius.

Iraqi security forces tried to disperse the crowd by firing tear gas and live ammunition. The demonstrators, in turn, threw stones and petrol bombs.

Police said over 26 protesters and several security forces had been wounded during the confrontation.

In a statement on Twitter late Sunday, Iraq’s military spokesman Yahya Rasool said an investigation was underway into the deaths, and that security forces were under orders not to use force unless absolutely necessary.

“The protesters are our brothers and our sons, just as the security forces charged with protecting them,” he said. “Attacks on either side are something we will investigate.”

The Iraqi premier later addressed the deadly protest at a meeting with security commanders and the interior minister on Monday.

Al- Kadhimi told the law enforcement and security officials that the facts surrounding “unfortunate events” at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square must be clarified and presented within 72 hours.

“Peaceful demonstrations are a right guaranteed by the Iraqi Constitution, with the government and security services obliged to support them (the peaceful rallies) and listen to the demands of the protesters,” he said.

The meeting also addressed reports of abductions and killings of individuals, especially the demonstrators, during protests, calling on Iraqi security bodies to prioritize the prosecution of those behind such crimes.

It further called on the demonstrators to cooperate with police in arresting the suspicious elements who want the protesters to deviate from the pursuit of their legitimate demands.

Separately on Monday, the Iraqi premier said in a televised speech that protests “are a legitimate right and the security forces do not have the permission to fire even one bullet in the direction of the protesters.”

Since October 2019, Iraqi people have staged street protests in several cities over unemployment and a lack of basic services, calling for economic reforms and a meaningful fight against corruption in state institutions.

Reports say some 550 people were killed and 30,000 injured as the anti-government rallies took a violent turn.

The protests led to the resignation of Adil Abdul-Mahdi as prime minister, who was replaced by Kadhimi in May following months of political deadlock.

Al-Kadhimi has promised dialog with the protesters and justice for those killed or wounded during the demonstrations, which have lost steam in recent months amid a coronavirus outbreak.

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Region Countries Fund Unrests in Iraq

reporter 1222 — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 11:41:53 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A senior Iraqi legislator claimed that region countries, the UAE and Kuwait, supported by the US, have sent huge fund to their affiliates in Iraq in a bid to derail unrests and protest rallies in the country and overthrow its government.

“The Persian Gulf littoral states and the US have sent money to Iraq to support the organizers of the protest rallies,” Mohammad al-Baldawi, a representative of al-Fatah coalition in the Iraqi parliament, told the Arabic-language Baghdad al-Youm news website on Wednesday.

“These region countries are behind the operations to kill the activists, fund the unrests and demonstrators and they aim to topple the Iraqi government,” he added.

Al-Baldawi noted that certain Persian Gulf Arab littoral states, spearheaded by the UAE and Kuwait, and supported by the US send huge amounts of money to the political figures and mercenaries in Iraq to shift the course of demonstrations towards their objectives through stirring chaos in the country.

In relevant remarks on Saturday, the leader of Iraq’s Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, which is part of the country’s Popular Mobilization Forces or Hashd al-Sha’abi, said Washington and Tel Aviv were members of “a third party” behind many deaths during the recent unrest.

Qais al-Khazali told Dijlah TV, an Amman-based Iraqi satellite television channel, that the committee set up to investigate the violence is merely an administrative body, and thus cannot identify the “third party” responsible for the killing of demonstrators.

He stressed that “Israel and US have a great role in the third party”.

Khazali further said the probe into the deaths in Iraq should not be restricted to the question of who killed the protesters, but also examine who “eased” the way for the killers and who gave them order.

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