ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq is staying neutral as the international community steps up pressure on Iran, its foreign minister said, while a British minister acknowledged relations will always exist between Iran and Iraq.
Iraq does not want to become involved in any regional or international conflicts, Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim said in a televised interview, as reported by Baghdad Today.
Specifically, he said Iraq won’t accept any invitations to events that are against Iran and won’t get in the middle of US-Iran relations.
The US and Poland are putting on a summit on Middle East in Warsaw in February. The affair has been dubbed an “anti-Iran” event. Iran is not invited, and Russia and top European diplomats are not attending.
Britain’s Minister of State for the Middle East Alistair Burt acknowledged that it is unreasonable to expect Iraq to sever itself from its neighbour.
“To expect Iran to have no influence in Iraq is fanciful,” he told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad, published on Sunday. Burt is visiting Baghdad, having first stopped in the Kurdistan Region.
Burt argued that instead Iraq should be encouraged to find its own feet, economically and in terms of foreign relations.
“What is important is that Iraq finds the opportunity to follow its own future in terms of foreign relations and that its economy is strong, and isn’t reliant on Iran,” he said.
Iraq shares a nearly 1,500-kilometre border with Iran. The neighbouring states do some $12 billion in trade and are looking to increase that. Iran’s foreign minister attended a number of trade conferences when he visited earlier this month.
Iran is the second-largest source of imports for Iraq, which is also dependent on its neighbour for electricity. Baghdad imports 28 million cubic metres of natural gas from Iran to fuel its power generators as well as 1,300 megawatts of electricity daily.
Baghdad is under pressure to end its energy dependency on Iran before its waiver from US sanctions expires in mid-March.
Hakim has previously said Iraq is not obliged to abide by US sanctions.