TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it “strongly condemns” Iraq’s raid on the Tehran consulate in Karbala for the murder of an activist.
Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters Monday that Iran delivered a “protest letter” to the Iraqi embassy in Tehran on Sunday night and suggested to neighboring Arab countries to pursue the case in accordance with foreign conventions.
“Iran strongly condemns attacks on its diplomatic headquarters in Iraq,” Khatibzadeh said at a weekly briefing in Tehran.
A day earlier, Iraqi protesters set fire to trailers belonging to the Iranian consulate in Karbala amid widespread anger over the murder of Ehab Wazni, an activist who participated in the anti-government protests that swept Iraq in October 2019. out of his house through unknown assailants.
Wazni’s death sparked one-day protests in Karbala, with protesters blocking roads and bridges with burning tires. On Sunday night, dozens of protesters piled up outside the Iranian consulate, burning tires in front of construction and setting fire to several caravans parked outside. doors.
Similar scenes took place at the November 2019 protests in Baghdad and the Shia-majority Iraqi provinces in the south.
Comments came here when Khatibzadeh first showed Monday that recent talks between Iran and its regional rival, Saudi Arabia, were organized through Iraq, the first public popularity of Baghdad’s role as mediator.
Talks with Saudi Arabia focused on “both bilateral and regional” problems, Khatibzadeh said. “We have welcomed these discussions to every degree and in every way. “
Khatibzadeh did not give the main points and said: “We deserve to welcome the suppression of antagonism. We hope to succeed in a meaningful agreement on bilateral relations and regional problems. “
On Wednesday, Iraqi President Barham Salih said his country had hosted several direct talks between his regional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Salih said in an interview broadcast through the Beirut Institute, a group of experts, that the first circular of talks between Riyadh and Tehran took a position earlier last month. He said the talks had taken place “more than once,” calling the talks “important and important. “
Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been regional rivals and opposite sites in Yemen and elsewhere in the region. Relations deteriorated significantly in 2016, when Riyadh ignored his diplomats after protesters attacked his embassy in Tehran and his consulate in Mashhad in retaliation for the kingdom’s execution. of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Iran and Iraq have maintained close relations since the overthrow of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who fought an eight-year war opposed to Iran in 1980, which claimed nearly a million lives on both sides.