Sunday, 27 September 2020_Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned any assaults on diplomatic places, saying such attacks in Iraq must be stopped.
Speaking in a Saturday meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran, Zarif said attacks on diplomatic sites are “unacceptable”.
He touched upon attacks carried out against Iran’s diplomatic locations and highlighted the necessity of guaranteeing the dignity and security of Iranian diplomats in Iraq.
Last year, a group of rioters stormed the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic mission in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and set it ablaze. The Iranian Consulate in the port city of Basra had also been torched the year before as rioters had hijacked protests against economic austerity and corruption.
The heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, which hosts foreign diplomatic sites and government buildings, have also been frequently targeted by rockets and explosives in the past few years.
The main target of the attacks is said to be the US embassy, but other missions have also been attacked. In one of the most recent cases earlier this month, which drew Iran’s condemnation as well, an improvised explosive device targeted a British Embassy vehicle returning from Baghdad airport just outside the Green Zone that houses the UK Embassy and other diplomatic missions.
In reaction to the attack, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned all acts of aggression targeting foreign diplomatic missions in Iraq.