TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and his Iraqi counterpart Abd al-Qadir al-Mufriji on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation.

Al-Mufriji, who was among the Iraqi delegation accompanying Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in his visit to Tehran, called for further expansion of defense ties with the Islamic Republic as part of efforts to establish security in his violence-ravaged country.
The MOU stresses cooperation in maintaining stability in the region. It also calls for cooperation in clearing minefields and searching for the bodies of martyrs of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.