Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran last Tuesday.Vahid Salemi / AP
Iran on Saturday condemned the US bombing of Iran-backed militias in Syria, and denied any responsibility for the rocket attacks on US targets in Iraq that prompted Washington's response on Friday.
The United States justified its attacks on Hezbollah's Kataib paramilitary group positions along the Iraqi border in response to rocket attacks on US targets.
An attack that Western officials and Iraqi authorities have blamed on Iranian-backed groups.
On the 15th, a US soldier was injured and a contractor died in Erbil, in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, due to the impact of several Katiusha rockets allegedly fired by militias backed by Iran.
In response, the United States on Friday bombed buildings used by pro-Iranian groups in eastern Syria, on the border with Iraq.
Tehran has denied any involvement in the offensive.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, condemned the US bombings on Saturday for being "illegal and a violation of the sovereignty of Syria," he declared after meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, who is visiting the country for the second time. once in a month, according to official Iranian media.
"Zarif said that some recent attacks and incidents in Iraq are suspicious and that they could be designed to disrupt Iran-Iraq relations and Iraq's security and stability," Iranian media said.
"We underscore the need for the Iraqi government to find the perpetrators of these incidents," Zarif said.
Hussein indicated that the Iraqi government will not allow the recent incidents in Iraq to affect the good relations between Tehran and Baghdad, according to the official Iranian note.
He also urged to boost bilateral relations and assured that his country is willing to expand ties with Iran.
At stake between the two countries is Tehran's access to $ 6 billion (about 4.97 billion euros) Iranians frozen in Iraq as a result of US sanctions.
The two ministers assured that progress has been made in the negotiations.
