Iran announced today, Monday, that it received a high-level Iraqi delegation in the framework of coordination between the two sides, amid fears of escalating tension in the region following the continued targeting of US interests in Baghdad.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that an Iraqi delegation headed by the advisor to the prime minister arrived in Tehran yesterday, and that "there is continuous coordination between Baghdad and Tehran."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Khatib Zadeh stressed that Tehran is not seeking to create tension in the region, "but will defend its security and interests with full force."
He added that Tehran affirms its good-neighborly policy and has never sought to transfer its dispute with any party to another region.
She added that Washington bears responsibility for any tension in the region and warned against any adventure it might take.
Iraqi political sources confirmed to Al-Jazeera that Iraqi politician Abu Jihad al-Hashemi, former director of the Iraqi prime minister's office, is currently visiting Tehran, carrying a message from the prime minister, Mustafa al-Kazemi, to the Iranian government.
The delegation will discuss the gas files and the Iranian-American tension / and the situation in the region.
An
Iranian decision
The sources confirmed that there is an ongoing understanding and communication between the Iraqi and Iranian governments, especially at the present time and after the recent escalation between Washington and Tehran, and that the Iranians informed the Iraqi side that there is an Iranian decision not to escalate in the region.
She added that the Iraqi government does not accuse Iran of escalating with it following the recent missile attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad.
"It seems that the visit cannot be separated from the current tension," said Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran, Noureddin Al-Dagheer.
As for Al-Jazeera correspondent in Baghdad, Samer Yusef, he indicated that there is a diplomatic movement to avoid any escalation in the region.
It was reported that the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrived in Baghdad a few days ago on an unannounced visit, as part of the two governments' keenness to avoid escalation in the last days of US President Donald Trump's term.
Five attacks,
and the Iraqi province of Babel witnessed, on Sunday, the targeting of trucks carrying logistical equipment belonging to the international coalition forces.
Al-Jazeera correspondent said that a bomb exploded on the highway linking the cities of Hilla and Diwaniyah while the trucks were passing by, and no casualties were reported.
This is the fifth attack of its kind within 8 days, as similar attacks took place on the international coalition convoys in the south of the country, and last Sunday witnessed unidentified firing 8 missiles at the Green Zone in Baghdad, which includes the buildings of the US embassy.
On the other hand, the security official in the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, Abu Ali Al-Askari, said that the area is boiling on hot tin, and that the possibility of an all-out war is present, which calls for restraint to miss the opportunity to what he described as the enemy.
Al-Askari added, in a tweet, that the bombing operations in recent days are only in Trump's interest, and that they should not be repeated.
Al-Askari warned Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi of what he described as a test of the resistance's patience.
Armed Shiite factions linked to Iran - including the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades - had threatened to target US forces' sites in Iraq, unless they withdrew in compliance with the Iraqi parliament’s decision issued at the beginning of this year to end the military presence in the country.
A warning from Washington:
Earlier, the outgoing US President Donald Trump made it clear that he would hold "Iran responsible" in the event of an attack that killed Americans in Iraq, with the approaching first anniversary of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by an American strike in Baghdad.
"Now we hear talk of other attacks against Americans in Iraq .. If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible ... Think about it carefully," he said.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif stressed that Trump "uses a worthless image to accuse Iran," adding that the outgoing president "will bear full responsibility for any adventure" he takes.
Zarif accused the US president of "exposing his citizens to danger abroad" and trying to divert "attention from the catastrophic failures" in the face of Covid-19 in the United States.