Baghdad call for stronger effort to strengthening relations with Tehran

The Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri on Monday accused Iran of violating the agreement signed between Baghdad and Tehran on resuming air flights suspended since the eruption of war between the two countries in 1980.

The Iraqi weekly Nabd al-Shabab (Youths impulse) quoted the Iraqi foreign minister as saying that "Iran has violated the agreement which was signed with Iran to run air flights between the two capitals." Sabri who had announced this agreement on an occasion when he visited Tehran in January after it was agreed to run four air flights per week between the two countries and opening flight offices in each of Baghdad and Tehran said "However, the Iranian side violated the agreement."

He added that Iraq is waiting for any Iranian initiative that would develop relations between the two countries.

Worthy mentioning that diplomatic relations between Iraq and Iran are still at the level of charge de affairs and the issues of war prisoners and the Iranian and Iraqi opposition movements, over which the two countries exchange accusations are still among the main obstacles to normalize relations between Iraq and Iran after 13 years of ending the war between the two countries in 1989.