TEHRAN -- International affairs expert Yusef Molaii has criticized Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s recent remarks on the 1975 Algiers Agreement, saying, “The accord cannot be abrogated unilaterally.”

Talabani allegedly said on December 25 that the agreement signed by Iran and Iraq in 1975 over dividing the Arvand Rud (Shatt-al-Arab) waterway had been rescinded.
The treaty was signed by Saddam Hussein and Iran’s last shah on March 6, 1975 under the supervision of the former Algerian president and not by Iran and Iraq, Talabani asserted.
“The revocation of an international agreement like the Algiers Accord is absolutely illegal… taking such measures in regard to international agreements is legally unacceptable,” Molaii told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday.
The Algiers Accord was inked between Iran and Iraq to settle disputes over the Arvand Rud (Shatt-al-Arab) waterway, which forms the boundary between Iran’s Khuzestan Province and Iraq.
Talabani also allegedly announced that the agreement had been canceled by the groups that opposed Iraq’s former government and which now rule the country.
--------- Iraq not allowed to rescind 1975 agreement
MP Elham Aminzadeh said, “Iraqi officials are not authorized to rescind the 1975 Algiers Accord because this agreement is registered with international organizations.”
“Iraqi officials should know that agreements like the 1975 Algiers Accord are the legal basis for all relations between the two countries,” said Aminzadeh, who sits on the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
There is “no legal justification” for the unilateral revocation of this accord, she told MNA.
“Mr. Talabani is not expected to follow in the footsteps of Saddam, because at the beginning of (the Saddam Hussein regime’s) imposed war on the country (1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war), Saddam rescinded the 1975 accord, but at the end of the war he had to accept it again.”
------- Talabani seeking popularity in Arab world
International affairs expert Ahmad Bakhshayeshi Ardestani said that the Iraqi president is seeking to “gain popularity in Arab countries” through the move to revoke the 1975 accord.
Since Talabani is a Kurd, he is not popular in the Arab world, and therefore, through statements such as the abrogation of the Algiers Agreement, he is trying to “attract the attention of Arab states,” Ardestani told MNA.
------ Media distorted Talabani’s remarks
Nazem Dabagh, a representative of Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdestan, denied the Arab media’s claims that the Iraqi president had called for the revocation of the Algiers Agreement.
“No doubt, the Algiers Accord is a bilateral and international agreement and cannot be abrogated unilaterally,” he told MNA, adding, “It would be almost impossible for Iraq’s president to adopt such a stance.”
He accused “certain currents” of seeking to disrupt the friendly relations between Iran and Iraq “even through distortion of the remarks made by officials.”
Dabagh said Talabani has also rejected the rumors, adding that such issues are too trivial to effect the two countries’ longstanding relations.
------ Iran-Iraq ties more important than Algiers Accord
Majed Ghamas, a representative of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, also agreed with Dabagh’s explanation of the Iraqi president’s remarks, saying, “Talabani’s statement has been distorted.”
“No doubt, friendly relations between Iran and Iraq are more important than the Algiers Accord,” he told MNA.
“The Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council respects the agreement signed by Iran and Iraq and believes that as long as the two countries have not reached a new agreement, the terms of the Algiers Accord must be observed.”
He also underlined Iraq’s interest in expanding relations with the Islamic Republic.
“Today Iraqi officials see the Islamic Republic of Iran as a friendly country and believe that their relations with this country should not be disrupted.