Iran warns against Iraq disintegration

A senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday that any plan to disintegrate Iraq would have adverse consequences for security and stability in the region, Press TV reported.

"Certain parties which speak about Iraq's breakup do not pay attention to its adverse consequences for security and stability of the region," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, in a reaction to recent remarks of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region President Masoud Barzani about the region's independence.

Iran carefully follows up on Iraq's developments and believe that the smart and patient Iraqi people will be able to defeat plots in light of the unity, Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying by Press TV.

In his recent remarks, Barzani said that the independence for Iraqi Kurdistan is "now closer than at any other time" and the world leaders should acknowledge it.

Iran also accommodates ethnic Kurds, comprising around 10 percent of the country's population. In the past years, the Kurdish-populated region in Iran was the scene of clashes between Iran's security forces and the Kurdish separatist groups.

The Islamic republic strongly supports the Iraqi government and considers the latter's integrity and sovereignty vital to its own security. Endit