TEHRAN – Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Monday said Iran’s policy is to help establish unity among all Iraqi factions.

In a meeting with the heads of Iraqi tribes, Rafsainjani said tribes in Iraq play a key role in protecting the country against insurgents.
He said insecurity, insurgency, and conflicts will fuel discord among different Iraqi sects and will give the occupying troops a pretext to perpetuate their presence in the war-torn country to further exploit its natural and human resources.
“Nothing more than a unified, free, developed, and independent Iraq is better for Iran.”
He added, “After the Islamic Revolution and the imposed war by the Iraqi Baath regime, we have gained precious experiences which we are ready to share with Iraqi people for their development and welfare.”
“Unity is Iran’s best experience in tackling problems and moving towards progress. If people are embroiled in conflicts they will never have a proper situation but if they are united no foreign enemy can defeat them,” Rafsanjani stressed.
Rafsanjani urged the Iraqis to take the country’s affairs at their own hands.
“In view of Iraq’s rich resources and its strategic situation in the region, if Iraq’s influential figures leave issues in the hands of occupiers they will suffer a great loss,” he stated.
“Another experience is that those foreigners who enter a country through military invasion cannot be useful for its people. I assure you that the U.S. troops are only pursuing their own interests.”
He said, “The U.S. should leave the fate of Iraqi people in their own hands and not impose its will on them.