TEHRAN – Iraqi President Fuad Masum and Iraj Masjedi, the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad, held talks on ways to discuss ties between the two neighbors, ISNA reported on Tuesday.

Masum said his country attaches great importance to expansion of ties with Tehran in various spheres.

Earlier in August, he said that Iraq will not accompany the U.S. in sanctions against Iran.

Situation in Iraq and the nature of its ties with Iran make it difficult for Baghdad to follow the U.S. sanctions against Iran, he said in an interview with Alhurra TV channel.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Washington’s exit from the 2015 nuclear deal on May 8 and ordered restoration of sanctions against Iran. 

The relationship between Iran and Iraq has increased greatly since the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003.

The volume of trade ties between Iran and Iraq stand about 7 billion dollars.

Also, millions of Iranians visit the holy shrines in Iraq each year. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also visit Iran each year.

Iran was the first country which rushed to the help of Iraqis when the terrorist Daesh group made rapid advances in northern Iraq in 2014.

In a meeting with a number of newly-elected Iraqi parliamentarians in Tehran on Monday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who acts as foreign policy advisor to the parliament speaker, praised Iraqis for protecting their sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of foreign invasion and terrorist groups.

NA/PA