On Tuesday, March 12, on the second day of his trip to Iraq, President Hassan Rouhani asked the Iraqis to unite with Iran and said: “We need unity and a great alliance to create a great regional power.”

While western countries have expressed concern about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s role in the region, Rouhani stated that the goal of this “great power” is not to act against another country, but to attract “other friendly countries in the region” so that “these two powers soon become three, four, and five powers standing by each other.”

President Rouhani also claimed that the international coalition led by the U.S against ISIS was mere “propaganda” and said that “America and the West had nothing to do with the defeat of terrorism, and their bombings were just theatrics.”

He continued: “The Americans have other dreams for the region, and they are transferring terrorists to Afghanistan, Central Asia, Caucasus.”

He claimed: “The power that annihilated the terrorists was the nation, army, and Mujahedin of Iraq, along with the fatwas of the Shai clerics.

On the reason for his visit, Rouhani said they have made decisions about connecting the railroads of the two countries, facilitating trade, and removing the cost of the visa.

Tehran wanted to remove the visa process between the two countries, but Iraq only agreed to remove the cost of the visa.

Iran also wants to increase its export to Iraq from $12 billion to $20 billion.