‘Iran-Iraq cultural ties worry Israel’

A senior Iranian official has underscored the significance of cultural ties among Islamic countries, saying the cultural relations between Iran and Iraq have terrified Zionists and the hegemonic powers.

“The Iraqi government and nation’s bonds with Iran are real,” said Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei on Thursday in a ceremony to open the first Iraqi cultural center in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

He said the relations between the two countries have terrified Zionists and the hegemonic powers “as they have realized that this relationship can be a platform for the growth of a united Islamic culture.”

Deep and unbreakable historical and cultural ties have existed between the nations of Iran and Iraq from the past up until now, Rezaei said, adding, “These ties will be strengthened with the establishment of Iraq’s cultural center in Tehran.”

He expressed hope that the opening of the Iraqi cultural center will serve as a model for other Islamic countries to follow suit.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian official said, “The global hegemony and Zionism have been targeting the unity of the Islamic world for a while” and “have sought to continue the project of [instigating] division and insecurity in the Islamic world” in an attempt to “prevent the emergence of Islamic civilization in the region and the world.”

He stressed that the problems in Syria, Iraq and Yemen will be resolved through “the unity of the Islamic world and the promotion of Islamic culture in the world.”