In a message on his Twitter account on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended his “congratulations to brave people and Government of Iraq upon liberation of Mosul.”
“When Iraqis join hands, [there is] no limits to what they can achieve,” he added.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani also extended his messages of felicitation to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, over the Iraqis’ success to completely take over Mosul from ISIS terrorists.
Shamkhani said the great victory in Mosul was achieved thanks to the leadership of top Shiite clerics, prudence of the Iraqi government and bravery of the country’s army and popular forces.
It has been once again proved that the use of Iraq’s domestic capacities was a “successful and reliable” experience in the fight against terrorism, he added.
The SNSC secretary emphasised that despite the demand of certain powers and regional countries who were interested in the “long-term existence of contained terrorism in Iraq,” the liberation of Mosul and restoration of security to the city brought happiness to the country’s people.
He added, however, that the roots of terror-nurturing ideology still remain in the region and the sentiments of the youth are abused by the intelligence services of extra-regional countries and the rulers of some regional states, Press TV reported.
Under such circumstances, it is necessary to pay attention to the “cultural and intellectual confrontation with terrorism more than security and military confrontation” with it, the senior Iranian official pointed out.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri also sent separate congratulatory messages to Iraq’s Prime Minister Abadi, Defence Minister Erfan Mahmoud al-Hayali, Commander of Iraq’s Badr Brigade Hadi al-Ameri, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the deputy head of the Arab country’s Popular Mobilization Units, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi.
In his message to Abadi, Iran’s Major General Baqeri described the liberation of Mosul as the manifestation of national unity and resistance, expressing confidence that close cooperation between the armed forces of Iran and Iraq would foil the plots by the “hegemonic and trans-regional powers and enemies of the Islamic community.”
In the message to Hadi al-Ameri, the senior Iranian general hailed Mosul liberation as a result of “historic acts of devotion” by the Hashd al-Shaabi forces, stressing the need for plans to maintain and strengthen the Popular Mobilization Units for the sake of Iraq’s future, Tasnim reported.
In another message to the Iraqi defines minister, the Iranian commander said the operation in Mosul marked a great victory against the Takfiri terrorists, the Zionist regime of Israel, and the regional reactionary regimes.
Separately, Iran’s Defence Minister Brigadier General Hossein congratulated his Iraqi counterpart and Badr Brigade’s Ameri on the liberation of Mosul.
“This great victory which foiled the plots by the US and the usurping Zionist regime (of Israel) in Iraq will lead to the complete defeat of the strategy of proxy war waged by the hegemony in the region, God willing,” Dehqan said in the message to his Iraqi counterpart.
In his message to Ameri, the Iranian defines minister expressed the hope that the brave Hashd al-Shaabi forces would preserve their preparedness and solidarity “in the post-ISIS era” to contribute to Iraq’s security and progress.
The Iraqi PM on Sunday announced final “victory” over the ISIS Takfiri terrorist group in Mosul after eight months of combat against the extremists, which has left parts of the country’s second largest city in ruins.
The recapture of Mosul, located some 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, would mark the effective end of ISIS in the Arab country.
