Iran denies interference in Iraq's affairs
Iraq-Iran, Politics, 7/25/2002

Baghdad radio said on Wednesday that the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein received a message of congratulations from his Iranian counterpart Muhammad Khatami on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of July 1968 revolution, Iraq's national day.

The message read "I extend to your Excellency and to your country's government and people congratulations on the occasion of the national day of Iraq. I do hope that relations between our two countries will further prosper under the reciprocated efforts and cooperation." Khatami added "I appeal the Almighty God prosperity and success for the Iraqi people and government."

However, the message coincided with Iraq's announcement that it has discovered a terrorist network working for Iran. Tehran rejected these accusations and said it has no plans to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq.

The spokesman for the Iranian government Abdullah Ramadan Zada said "Iran does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of other states "be it a neighbor or not." Ramadan Zada said in a press conference "I strongly deny that Iran has no intention to have one inch of the Iraqi soil, and calls for honoring its unity and territorial integrity."

Meantime, the remains of 580 Iranian soldiers killed during the Iraq- Iran war arrived in Tehran and were buried. The Iranian radio said in a statement that the remains of "several soldiers are bearing traces of brutal torture made by the enemy." Two hundreds corpses are for the guards of the Islamic revolution - al-Basdaran, 196 for regular troops, 11 for policemen, and 9 for pilots. Other 164 corpses could not be identified.

The two countries who launched a war resulted in killing one million person, often exchanged remains of soldiers. After fighting ended, no peace agreement was signed between the two sides. The question of war prisoners and the sheltering of opposition organizations, are still the main obstacles behind normalization of their relations between the two countries.

Previous Stories:
  Iraqi arrests two 'terrorists' linked to Iran   (7/24/2002)
  Largest soldiers remain exchange between Iraq, Iran   (7/22/2002)
  Iranians repatriate from Iraq   (7/17/2002)

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