Al-Hashemi: tension dominates meeting with Larijani

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said on Friday that tension has dominated his meeting with Speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Larijani. Al-Hashemi told IraqiNews.com news agency that he asked Larijani during the meeting to explain his country’s policy on several files, including the water and oilfields issues. “I told Larijani that his country lost the support of many Iraqis who were supporting normalizing ties with Iran as a result of the illegal Iranian interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, mainly in the security and political issues,” the Sunni vice president said. Larijani had arrived in Baghdad last Wednesday (Nov. 4) and held several meetings with senior Iraqi officials, including Speaker Iyad al-Samarraie, his two deputies; Sheikh Khaled al-Attiya and Aaref Tayfour as well as representatives of the parliamentary blocs. SH (P) 1