Iranian Parliament speaker visit holy Najaf

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has arrived in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf on Tuesday following an invitation from the Iraqi Parliament Speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi. In a news conference with the First Deputy speaker of Iraqi council of Representative, Qusay Suhail, Larijani said: "My visit to Najaf has a religious purpose. I also would like to meet with the clerics of the city.” Qusay al-Suhail considered Larijani's visit an opportunity to strengthen relations between the Iraqi and Iranian parliamentarians. Larijani said that "his visit to Iraq came at the invitation of the Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and is an opportunity to strengthen relations between the two countries in the economic and political fields," adding that "the aim of the visit is to discuss the crisis in the region, especially what happened in the Gaza Strip and the Syrian conflict”. Suhail added: "The visit will contribute to the development of the historical relations between the two countries and activating the role of parliaments in solving the crises in the region." The media reported that Ali Larijani will arrive in Baghdad for an official visit to Iraq after a regional tour that included Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, which focused on the Syrian crisis and Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip recently. A number of Iranian officials have visited Iraq in October to strengthen the ties between the two countries.