Iran says won’t allow Israel to disrupt regional security

By Syed Zafar Mehdi
TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Thursday that Tehran will not allow Israel to threaten the security of Iran and the region.

Speaking during a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, Raisi said Iran "seriously expects" neighboring countries, especially Iraq, to not allow the presence of entities that endanger Iran's security, either in areas controlled by the federal government or in the Kurdish region.

Iran has "proved its brotherhood" toward its neighbors and expects them to "be aware of the conspiracies of its enemies,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office.

Last month, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for an attack on what it claimed was an Israeli "strategic center" in Erbil in northern Iraq.

The attack, which included a dozen ballistic missiles, came in response to the killing of two IRGC members in an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Damascus. It led to heightened tensions between Baghdad and Tehran, after some Iraqi officials condemned the missile strike.

Raisi said Iran was "closely watching" the actions of Israel and it will not allow them to "endanger the security of the region through any country, including Iraq".

He emphasized that Iraq’s security must be provided by the Iraqis themselves, without the presence of outsiders, in an oblique reference to US forces.

Hussein, for his part, said Iraq will "never be a base for acting against the security of Iran", and that his country was ready for "extensive cooperation with Iran, including in the field of security.”

Hussein, who is on a two-day visit to Tehran, held talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday, with both diplomats agreeing that dialogue was a way to resolve issues.

"It is clear that our brothers in Iran have some security concerns that we believe can be resolved through dialogue," he told reporters, adding that the security of Iraq and Iran was intertwined.