TEHRAN — Iran and Iraq highlighted the necessity to expand bilateral cooperation to ensure security and stability in the West Asia region, the ICANA news agency of the Iranian parliament reported.
At a joint press conference following their meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and his visiting Iraqi counterpart Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Monday highlighted the necessity to promote bilateral relations, the report said.
"We seek to increase our bilateral political and economic relations, which will contribute to ensuring peace and stability in the region and among the neighboring Arab, non-Arab and Muslim states," Qalibaf said.
Qalibaf said ties between the Iranian and Iraqi peoples, parliaments and governments were at their peak, adding that as two Muslim countries, Iran and Iraq were always ready to support the resistance front and the Muslim world's dignity, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Iraqi parliament speaker, for his part, said the most important issues discussed during his visit to Tehran included the topics of borders, economic relations, and security cooperation, according to the Iraqi News Agency.
"We discussed the means to support the security stability of the region," he said, stressing that "Iraq will not abandon its Arab and Islamic principles, and it is open to everyone."
The ICANA said Mashhadani gave the assurance that Iraq would always stand by Iran and be the neighbouring country's "wings," expressing hope that bilateral ties would further improve.
Meanwhile, Iraq denied on Monday its involvement in purchasing, receiving, or re-exporting Iranian crude oil to help Iran "evade sanctions," emphasising that its export operations are subject to strict controls.
All quantities of Iraqi crude oil are exported in accordance with international mechanisms and standards that ensure the highest level of transparency, according to a statement issued by the State Organization for Marketing of Oil, a state-owned company affiliated with the Iraqi Oil Ministry.
The company, responsible for marketing Iraq's oil, confirmed that it didn't deal with any companies or tankers subject to international sanctions, pledging to announce the names of all tankers transporting petroleum products from Iraqi ports to enhance transparency.