Iranian president, IRGC Naval Force commander to visit Iraq soon

TEHRAN,Oct.8(MNA) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will travel to Iraq in the near future, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq announced. In an interview with the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Sunday, Ambassador Hassan Danaiifar also said that the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Naval Force, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, will travel to Iraq on Tuesday at the invitation of the Iraqi Navy to discuss bilateral defense cooperation. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi recently traveled to Iraq and met with a number of Iraqi officials. During the visit, Vahidi and Acting Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi signed a defense cooperation agreement. Commenting on the recent inspection of an Iranian plane bound for Syria by Iraq, he said, “We believe that it was in contravention of international agreements of aviation organizations of the two countries.” “We have conveyed our concern and protest to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and hope that it will not reoccur. It also runs counter to excellent relations between the two countries,” he added. Iraqi authorities made their first inspection of an Iranian aircraft on October 2 and let it fly on to Syria after finding no weapons. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari promised the searches on October 1 in response to U.S. claims that Iran is using Iraqi airspace to ship arms and military equipment to Syria.