BAGHDAD — Iran's foreign minister on Sunday stressed that Iran-Iraq relations would not be “shaken” ahead of the Iraqi prime minister's planned visit this week to regional rival Saudi Arabia. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's visit to Baghdad was the first since the American assassination of top Iranian General Qassim Soleimani outside Baghdad airport in January. The brazen strike catapulted Iraq to the brink of a proxy war. Iraq raided the headquarters of the Iran-backed group Kataib Hezbollah over a spate of rocket attacks targeting the U.S. in late June. "We stressed the necessity of keeping the region and Iraq out from international tensions and protecting Iraqi sovereignty.”

Source: International New York Times July 19, 2020 11:48 UTC