In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on bilateral, regional and international issues.

“Dialogue and regional cooperation are the best ways to establish lasting stability and security,” Shamkhani noted.

The top security official touched upon regional countries’ potential to establish stability through talks and cooperation without the interference of ultra-regional powers, and highlighted the necessity of cooperation among all regional states.

Shamkhani referred to Israel’s ongoing scheme to normalize its relations with more regional countries, and said the plan merely aims to secure full domination over the region.

“This trend, which is a major act of betrayal and a gross violation of Palestinian people’s rights, will not only fuel insecurity and sow discord among regional countries, but pose serious danger to the existence of compromising countries,” said Shamkhani.

He described Tehran-Baghdad agreements as strategically significant.

“By expediting the full implementation of these agreements, the two countries will not only boost reciprocal ties, but present a successful model of all-out cooperation,” he said.

“Shamkhani then noted that Washington’s assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in January is a glaring example of state terrorism.

He said the least severe punishment for perpetrators of this crime is for them to immediately leave the region, especially the country where the crime was committed.

“The Iraqi government is expected to seriously follow up on this cowardly assassination through international circles,” he said.

The top Iraqi diplomat said his country is set to further enhance relations with Iran.

Hussein noted the Iraqi government and people will never forget Tehran’s support and the sacrifices made by Iranian people, especially the youth, to wipe out the scourge of Takfiri terrorism in Iraq.

He said Iran and Iraq are two neighboring countries with friendly ties, long borders and numerous commonalities.

The foreign minister said the eight-year war imposed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Iran in the 1980s failed to drive a wedge between the two nations, which, in turn, is good reason that no foreign country will be able to affect the good relations between the two countries, either.

Protection of diplomatic sites

On Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks with his Iraqi counterpart.

Zarif condemned any assaults on diplomatic installations in Iraq as “unacceptable”, saying such attacks must be stopped.

Zarif, in an English-language tweet, said they discussed “attacks on Iranian diplomatic premises” in Iraq, adding that he had underlined to Hussein the “imperative of protection of diplomatic posts” and the necessity of guaranteeing the dignity and security of Iranian diplomats in Iraq.

Last year, a group of rioters stormed the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic mission in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and set it ablaze. The Iranian Consulate in the port city of Basra had also been torched the year before as rioters had hijacked protests against economic austerity and corruption.

The heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, which hosts foreign diplomatic sites and government buildings, have also been frequently targeted by rockets and explosives in the past few years.

The main target of the attacks is said to be the US Embassy, but other missions have also been attacked. In one of the most recent cases earlier this month, which drew Iran’s condemnation as well, an improvised explosive device targeted a British Embassy vehicle returning from Baghdad airport just outside the Green Zone that houses the UK Embassy and other diplomatic missions.

IFP, Press TV and AFP contributed to this story.

Sayed Sadiq al-Hashemi, the director of the Iraqi Center for Studies, said more than 2.5 million took part in the demonstrations on Friday.

Huge crowds of men, women, and children massed under gray skies in the Jadiriyah district of the Iraqi capital, chanting “Get out, get out occupier!” and “Yes to sovereignty!”

Some waved signs in Arabic and English reading “Death to America” and one protester carried a cardboard cut-out of US President Donald Trump on the gallows.

Iraq’s Al-Ahd news network reported that Iraqis from all of the country’s provinces had gathered in the city.

The massive rally came after Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Iraqis to stage “a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations.”

A representative of Sadr took to the stage at the protest site and read out a statement by the influential cleric.

It called for all foreign forces to leave Iraq, the cancelation of Iraq’s security agreements with the United States, the closure of Iraqi airspace to US military and surveillance aircraft and for Trump not to be “arrogant” when addressing Iraqi officials.

“If all this is implemented, we will deal with it as a non-occupying country – otherwise it will be considered a country hostile to Iraq,” the statement said.

America’s military presence has been a hot-button issue in Iraq since a US strike assassinated Iranian Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and top Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside Baghdad airport on January 3.

On January 5, the Iraqi parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution calling for the expulsion of all foreign forces.

Iraq said the strike against Soleimani violated the mandate for the presence of around 5,200 US troops in the country.

Baghdad said it wanted to discuss a timeline for departure but US special envoy, James Jeffrey, said Thursday there was no “real engagement.”

Long opposed to the US troop presence, Sadr seized on the public anger over the drone strike to call “a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations.”

Military factions from the Hashd al-Shaabi force agreed to join. Qais al-Khazali, a Hashd commander, endorsed the rally.

“To Trump, the fool – the people’s message of rejection was clear: If you don’t leave voluntarily, you’ll be ousted despite yourself,” he tweeted.

Iraq’s top Shia authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said in his weekly sermon on Friday that Iraqis had a right to protest “peacefully” in support of their country’s sovereignty.

He called on Iraqi groups to stand united, far from any foreign influence in countering the dangers which threaten the country.

AFP and Press TV contributed to this story.