TEHRAN – Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Nasir Abdul Mohsen Abdullah says his country does not support any decision against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Iraq has been fundamentally against the proposal at the United Nations,” Abdullah said in an interview with IRNA on Saturday, referring to a recent U.S. attempt to re-establish a team of experts within the UN to monitor sanctions on Tehran.

He said Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has sent a message to Iran to underline that Iraq does not support any decision against the Islamic Republic.

“Iran is a friendly and brotherly neighboring country and we have close relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Abdullah said. 

“Iraq’s strict policy has always been to oppose any decision or action against all its neighbors, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iraqi envoy added.

On Thursday, the outgoing administration of U.S. President Donald Trump voted against the UN’s budget of $3.231 billion for 2021, citing disagreements on Israel and Iran.

Only Israel sided with the U.S., as the other 168 nations voted in favor of the annual budget that is traditionally approved by consensus.

With regard to Iran, the U.S. was unhappy due to the lack of support for its attempt to re-establish a team of experts within the UN to monitor sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The U.S., under Trump, withdrew from a multilateral agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in May 2018 and unilaterally slapped harsh economic sanctions on Tehran under what it called the “maximum pressure” policy.

Since its withdrawal from the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Washington has been threatening other countries to cut trade with Iran or face punishments. 

The other signatories of the nuclear deal – namely Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – have opposed Washington’s coercive measures, and rejected several anti-Iran measures initiated by the United States.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last week that his administration is seriously pursuing the nullification of the U.S. sanctions.

“That the Leader told [us] to neutralize the sanctions, we are pursuing this moment by moment. Every time money enters the country and goods are exported, you should know that hours of fights have been behind it,” Rouhani pointed out.

He explained that this is something that has been done “for hours and moments” since more than two years ago, when the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear agreement and introduced the harshest sanctions in history against Iran.

The United States’ sanctions have severely hampered Iran’s power to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which has so far claimed the lives of 55,540.

President Rouhani also said the sanctions have prevented Iran’s access to the coronavirus vaccines, adding that this is the case for all drugs and goods that Iran wants to import.

“But we overcome this problem, and we are overcoming this problem on a daily basis, and we are nullifying sanctions on both exports and imports,” he added.

MH/PA