Iran's Larijani arrives in Najaf for regional talks

TEHRAN, Nov. 28 (MNA) – Iranian Majlis speaker Ali Larijani heading a parliamentary delegation arrived in Najaf on Tuesday to hold talks with Iraqi officials on the regional issues. Larijani’s trip to Iraq was made at the invitation of Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and come after his recent tour of Damascus, Beirut, and Ankara where he discussed regional issues with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. MPs Javad Jahangirzadeh, Mansour Haqiqatpour, Laleh Eftekhari, Masoud Pezeshkian, and Ebrahim Mohebbi, as well as Abdollah Tamini are accompanying Larijani on his trip to Iraq. “The most important regional issues such as ways of expansion of Tehran-Baghdad bilateral ties in all arenas particularly in the fields of economy and politics, the issue of dust storms and exploring practical ways of addressing this problem are among the issues to be discussed during the trip,” Larijani told reporters before leaving Tehran for Najaf. He also pointed to Iraq’s presidency of the Arab League and Iran’s presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and said, "the two neighboring countries have great potential for regional talks in line with resolving the regional crises." The 16th summit of the leaders of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement was held in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, on August 26-31, during which Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi officially handed over the presidency of NAM to Iran. Iran’s Majlis speaker is scheduled to hold talk with religious leaders in Najaf and a number of senior Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his two-day stay in Iraq.