Iraqi defense minister attends funeral of Iranian general killed in Iraq

TEHRAN, Iran – Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Ubedi met with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran, where he arrived for high-level talks and to take part in the funeral of a high-ranking Iranian general killed in Iraq.

Iranian media reports said that Ubedi met with Hossein Dehqan, his Iranian counterpart, as well as with Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Ubedi and Dehqan discussed Islamic State (ISIS) threats in the region, and the Iranian minister expressed his country’s military support for Iraq’s war against the militants.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that, in the meeting, Shamkhani said that all of Iraq would soon be cleared of “terrorists.”

The Iraqi minister applauded Iran’s military support.

Iranian troops have been involved in the fighting in Iraq.  

Over the weekend Iran announced the death of a senior commander in Iraq, Hamid Taqawi, who was reportedly killed by an ISIS sniper in the city of Samarrah. Iran says its forces are in Iraq as advisors and to help protect Shiite shrines in Iraq from the Sunni extremists,