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Envoy calls on US to avoid raising empty charges against Iran

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Baghdad, Feb 6, IRNA
Iraq-Diplomats-Kidnap
Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi on Tuesday called on US to submit to the Iraqi government any available document that may prove Iran's interference in the country's affairs not included in Iran-Iraq agreement, rather than raising empty charges against Iranians.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA reporter, he severely denied the US accusations that Iranian forces are involved in illegal activities in Iraq before noon on Sunday.

Kazemi Qomi said that the second secretary of the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, Jalal Sharafi, was kidnapped in front of Bank Melli Iran, Baghdad branch, by unknown individuals in military uniforms.

"The kidnappers, riding American vehicles, suddenly stopped in front of the bank building, presented identity cards of Iraq's Defense Ministry and kidnapped the Iranian diplomat.

"In reaction to the move, the Iraqi security forces and police arrested four individuals involved in the kidnap," he added.

The Iranian ambassador to Iraq said that the charges raised by US officials against Iran on various pretexts mainly aim to avoid the situation in which they are currently involved in Iraq," he added.

Kazemi Qomi called on Iraqi officials to investigate the issue more closely and seek the cause of the country's domestic problems.

"The question is whether charging a foreign country and introducing it as culprit will solve the problems facing Iraq or should they look for the origin of the issue," he added.

Turning to the recent growing trend of violence and terrorist actions as well as the number of US toll in Iraq, he said that it will be to the benefit of Iraq, the Middle East and US itself to use Iran's potential and role in the country's reconstruction and promotion of security.

"We believe that, under no conditions, should Iraq be the scene of conflict among other countries and the US measures will not make us disregard such a principle," he noted.

The Iranian diplomat urged that at this point, Iraq's legal government should be provided with all available potentials and facilities to increase its defensive power and the ability to control the situation.

He pointed to the talks held with Iraqi officials in this respect and hoped that Iran's consulates in the Iraqi cities of Erbil and Suleymaniye will soon be opened.

Kazemi Qomi said that according to the latest investigations, the kidnappers included 30 individuals, who earlier worked in Iraq's Defense Ministry, adding that therefore they still had their identity cards.

Hoping that Sharafi and the five diplomats who were kidnapped from Iran's consulate in Erbil will soon be released, he said that they were working at the Iranian consular office in northern Iraq based on Iran-Iraq agreement.

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