Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during a meeting Saturday with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, who is visiting Tehran, that the United States is an unreliable friend, and Iraq should not allow any American troops on its soil.
Iran, which has strong ties to Iraq, opposes the U.S. military presence on its borders in Iraq and the Gulf, saying Western military intervention is the root cause of insecurity in the region.
Khamenei was quoted by state media as saying: "The Americans are not friends of Iraq. Americans are no one's friends or even loyal to their European friends."
Khamenei told Rashid, who visited Tehran at the head of a delegation aimed at strengthening ties between the two neighbours: "The presence of even one American in Iraq is a lot."
The United States has about 2500,2014 troops in Iraq to help advise and support local forces in the fight against Islamic State, which in <> seized territory in the country.
Rashid, who is on his first official visit to Iran since his election in October 2022, was quoted as saying that Iraq is focusing its efforts on deepening relations with Iran and resolving some outstanding issues between the two countries, without referring to his country's relations with the United States.
Before meeting Khamenei, the Iraqi president met with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, and the Iranian news agency reported that the two sides discussed during the talks files of common interest between them, as well as discussing how Iraq can pay its debts and dues to Iran in the energy export file.
In a joint press conference, Raisi said that his country rejects the foreign presence and the US presence in the region, and believes that regional dialogue will enhance security in the region and solve its problems.
He added that any attempts to destabilize security in Iraq are considered a threat to destabilize security in Iran, as he put it.
On the other hand, Rashid said during a press conference with his Iranian counterpart that "relations between Iraq and Iran are stable, coherent and immutable. I congratulate the development in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia."
The Iraqi president also stressed "the need for Iran to take into account Iraq's water share," as Iraq has been suffering for years from a continuous decline in water resources, and the water scarcity crisis has been exacerbated by the low amounts of rain in the country over the past years.