“Our victory in Kirkuk is a victory over the US and Israel and an answer to Trump’s threats to Iran,” said Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, deputy head of Hezbollah’s executive council, speaking during a religious ceremony in Lebanon.
He said the region has entered a new phase at the expense of Saudi, American, and Israeli interests.
Qaouk is the top Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon.
Iranian-backed paramilitary units, the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi, joined Iraqi forces to take control over the disputed territories in Kirkuk, Diyala, and Nineveh provinces last week, re-exerting federal control over disputed areas that had been under Kurdish control.
Iran’s Quds commander Qassem Soleimani is an advisor to the Hashd forces and was reportedly on the ground in Kirkuk.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is currently on a Middle Eastern trip, reportedly partially with the goal of shoring up support for US President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to isolate Iran. He met with Saudi’s King Salman and Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Riyadh on Sunday and hailed strengthening ties between the two.
Rebuilding the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iraq is vital for “the stability of the region,” Tillerson said during the inaugural meeting of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council on Sunday.
Earlier, he had addressed the presence of Iranian forces in Iraq, telling Iranian “militias” to “go home.”
While Iraq is forging new ties with its western neighbour Saudi Arabia, it is also strengthening existing ones with its eastern neighbour, Iran.
Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Sunday met with a senior advisor to Iran’s Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, emphasizing “historical relations” and “protecting oil prices.”
Masum highlighted the “depth of the historical ties between Tehran and Baghdad, pointing out Iraq’s interest in developing these ties in all fields in a way that serves the interests of the two neighbouring peoples.”
He stressed that coordination over oil issues was of particular importance and "clarified the importance of coordination between the two countries in the field of protecting oil prices in world markets for the benefit of the oil exporting countries, in indication to the need to support the OPEC," according to a statement from his office on Sunday.
The Iranian advisor, Said Ohdi, said Tehran was “keen” to develop relations with Iraq across all fields, “and continue to help the Iraqi people in its war against terrorism,” according to a statement from Masum’s office.
He said that Tehran is ready to participate in reconstruction of the war-torn country, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.
"Iran has good experience in agriculture and industry fields and we are keen to use these experiences," the advisor noted.
