Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the United States cannot “stop” Iran and Iraq’s mutual relations, reminding that Baghdad has established the ties of its own accord.

Zarif made the remarks to BBC Arabic Television on Monday as he is accompanying President Hassan Rouhani during the latter’s historic visit to the Arab country.

“We have good relations with Iraq. Iraq is our neighbor,” the Iranian foreign minister said, and noted that not even former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein’s 1980-88 war on the Islamic Republic managed to separate the two nations, ending the historical, geographical, and even family ties between the countries.

“We have never asked the Iraqis to choose us,” the senior diplomat said. “It is the United States, which is pressuring Iraqis to choose [between Iran and the US],” Zarif stated, and noted that Tehran is not after competing with Washington in Iraq either.

Rouhani is in Baghdad on a three-day trip aimed at solidifying bilateral strategic ties. Earlier on Monday and after arrival, he met with his Iraqi counterpart Barham Salih.

He next met with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. The two sides signed five memorandums of understanding for the expansion of bilateral cooperation in various economic and healthcare sectors in Rouhani and Abdul-Mahdi’s presence.

The Iranian president is also slated to meet with Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi and a number of prominent lawmakers. He will also make stops at Shia holy sites and meet top Iraqi Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is a major source of influence in the Arab country.

Religious ties have played a definitive role in the relations existing between Iran and Iraq, whose holy cities of Najaf and Karbala respectively house the shrines of the First and Third Shia Imams, Imam Ali and Imam Hussein (AS). Every year, millions of Iranians go on pilgrimage to the holy cities, especially during the ceremonies marking the anniversary of Imam Hussein’s martyrdom.

By providing the Iraqi military with military advisory support, the Islamic Republic played a central role in Iraq’s anti-terror battle against Daesh during the Takfiri group’s campaign of bloodshed and destruction in the Arab country between 2014 and 2017.

Commenting on the nature of the visit, Zarif said, “I do not believe that we are here either to take a measure against any country [or] to seek intervention on behalf of Iran with any country.” “Our positions have been very clear, and we called for dialog.”

He asserted that the Islamic Republic maintains a regional strategy called “a stronger region rather than strong countries or strong men in this region.” “We have had enough of strong men, we need a strong region,” he noted.

Separately, Zarif commented on a payment mechanism that European countries have announced to safeguard trade with Iran.

The UK, France, and Germany, three of the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement, issued a joint statement on January 31, announcing the launch of the long-awaited direct non-dollar payment mechanism meant to protect their trade ties with the country in the face of the United States sanctions.

The US left the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), last May, defying the fact that it had been ratified in the form of a United Nations Security Council resolution. Washington afterwards returned the sanctions that it had lifted under the accord.

Zarif said the European mechanism alone “does not solve all of Iran’s problems.” Nor does it realize all of Europe’s commitments as a partner to the JCPOA, he added.

He also commented on tensions between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia, saying, “We are prepared for cooperation with Saudi Arabia, but they should acknowledge that their security is tied to ours and our security is tied to theirs.”

Saudi Arabia broke off its diplomatic ties with Iran in early 2016 after protests in front of its Iran-based diplomatic missions against Riyadh’s earlier execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Saudi Shia cleric.

This article has been adapted from its original source.</s>Image copyright EPA Image caption Ali Bashar covered his face at the start of the trial, showing the name "Ziad" written on his fingers

A failed asylum seeker who was arrested by German police in Iraq has gone on trial accused of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old German girl in Wiesbaden.

Ali Bashar, 22, admitted in court that he had strangled Susanna Feldman, but said he did not know how it happened.

The May 2018 killing prompted outrage in Germany and led Chancellor Angela Merkel to call for faster deportation of failed asylum seekers.

The girl's body was found two weeks after she disappeared.

"Everything went black before my eyes, then it all happened," the defendant told the court through an interpreter. "I don't know how it could have happened."

Ali Bashar is also accused of attacking a man in a park and faces a separate trial next week for allegedly raping a girl aged 11.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Flowers marked the spot where Susanna's body was found last June

Susanna Feldman's mother, Diana, was in court to hear details of her daughter's death and the indictment against Ali Bashar.

Defendant gives evidence

As the trial got under way amid tight security, the defendant gave a statement to the court in which he described how his family had fled Iraq in 2015.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said he had drunk alcohol since the age of 12 but had used drugs for the first time when he came to Germany.

He told the court he had met Susanna through a mutual acquaintance three months before the attack and had spent time with her, listening to music and walking with her, hand in hand. He had not known her age, he said.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The suspect was brought back to Germany in an operation led by the head of German federal police

He denies rape and says they had consensual sex. But prosecutors say Susanna was raped in a forest and then strangled from behind when she threatened to go police.

Her body was found buried beside a railway line after police were given information from a 13-year-old Afghan refugee from Ali Bashar's asylum shelter.

By the time she had been found, Ali Bashar and his family had left Germany for Iraq.

They had travelled to the Kurdish city of Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the 22 year old was detained by local forces and returned to Germany.

High-profile case

In a high-profile mission, the head of German federal police, Dieter Romann, travelled to Irbil with anti-terror police to bring him back. Iraq and Germany do not have an extradition treaty.

The case has provoked widespread anger politically. Police were criticised after the teenager's disappearance for failing to carry out a sufficient search.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a TV interview last June that the case showed how important it was for people with no residency status to be put before the courts so that "they can quickly get sent home again".

Far-right politicians from the AfD party have been accused of seizing on the case for political ends. Marches and vigils were held against illegal immigration, three years after a wave of migrants and refugees arrived in Germany.

Several high-profile crimes involving asylum seekers have sparked public anger in Germany. The killing of a 15-year-old German girl in the south-west of Germany by her ex-boyfriend was also seized upon by far-right groups.

There were clashes last August after a man was fatally stabbed in the eastern city of Chemnitz. An Iraqi and a Syrian were arrested at the time.</s>Ali Bashar covers his face as he arrives at a court in Wiesbaden on Tuesday BORIS ROESSLER/AP

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in Germany has admitted strangling her but said she agreed to have sex.

Ali Bashar, 22, fled to Iraq after killing Susanna Feldmann in a field near her home in Wiesbaden last May, in a murder that was seized upon by the populist critics of Angela Merkel’s migration policies.

Yesterday Mr Bashar, who was extradited to Germany by the Kurdish authorities, appeared for the first day of his trial, watched by Susanna’s mother.

He said he had throttled the teenager after she hurt herself falling over and threatened to tell the police he had injured her. “I held her, my hand around her neck,” he said. “I do not know how it…</s>BERLIN
• An Iraqi accused of raping and murdering a teenage girl in Germany is facing trial in a case that has inflamed anti-migrant tensions amid an influx of asylum seekers.

The schoolgirl was attacked in May last year and the accused, Ali Bashar, 22, left Germany for northern Iraq shortly after. He was brought back in a mission in which federal police chief Dieter Romann was involved personally.

Bashar's trial for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman started yesterday under tight security in the city of Wiesbaden.

To Germany's far-right, the alleged killer, who is also accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in a separate case, has become a symbol of the threat allegedly posed by the wave of newcomers.

Before the trial, the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party again blamed Chancellor Angela Merkel and her grand coalition or "GroKo" government for Susanna's death.

The AfD, in a Facebook post, said: "The problem isn't 'the right' but the knife-man immigration caused by the GroKo that has caused ever more bloody crimes."

The AfD became the biggest opposition party when it entered Parliament in late 2017, riding a wave of public anger over sexual assaults and other violent crimes committed by some recent migrants.

In another case last year, the fatal stabbing of a German man in the eastern city of Chemnitz - allegedly by immigrants - sparked an outbreak of mob violence in which far-right extremists hunted down people who looked like foreigners on the streets.

Bashar, along with his parents and five siblings, first arrived in Germany in 2015, the year that saw the peak of the immigrant influx that would bring more than one million people to Germany, Europe's top economic power.

His request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

In May last year, Bashar allegedly beat, raped and strangled Susanna to death in a wooded area near his refugee shelter in Wiesbaden.

Her body was then buried in a shallow grave and covered with leaves, twigs and soil.

When her body was found two weeks later, Bashar and his family had left Germany for Arbil in Iraq. After a public outcry, Bashar was arrested by Kurdish security forces, and the German federal police hauled him back from Iraq.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, Bashar was put on a flight to Germany, with pictures of him disembarking from the plane under heavy police guard making the front pages of newspapers.

Bashar also faces charges over a robbery in which he allegedly beat, strangled and threatened a man with a knife in a park, to steal his watch, bag, phone and bank card.</s>The accused, who is known as Ali B. under German law, left Germany for northern Iraq shortly after the May 2018 crime but was brought back in a mission joined personally by federal police chief Dieter Romann.

SEE ALSO: Iraqi charged with rape, murder in Germany's 'Susanna' case

The 22-year-old's trial for the rape-murder of 14-year-old schoolgirl Susanna F. started under tight security at 9.30am in the city of Wiesbaden, Hesse, where the crime took place.

Around a dozen people held a vigil for the victim outside the courthouse.

The suspect has admitted the killing to police interrogators but denied the rape, meaning he already faces a likely life prison term, which in Germany usually translates to 15 years behind bars.

To Germany's far right, the alleged killer, who is also accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in a separate case, has become a symbol of the threat allegedly posed by the wave of newcomers.

Before the trial, the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party again blamed Chancellor Angela Merkel and her grand coalition or "GroKo" government for Susanna's death.

"The problem isn't 'the right' but the knife-man immigration caused by the GroKo that has caused ever more bloody crimes," the party wrote in a Facebook post.

The AfD became the biggest opposition party when it entered parliament in late 2017, riding a wave of public anger over sexual assaults and other violent crimes committed by some recent migrants.

In another case last year, the fatal stabbing of a German man in the eastern city of Chemnitz, allegedly by immigrants, sparked outbursts of mob violence in which far-right extremists hunted people of foreign appearance through the streets.

SEE ALSO: Refugees still welcome? How one girl's murder is dividing Germany

B., along with his parents and five siblings, first arrived in Germany in 2015, the year that saw the peak of the migrant influx which would bring more than one million people to Europe's top economy.

His request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but -- in a case critics label as symptomatic of an overwhelmed and dysfunctional system -- he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

Merkel later conceded in a TV interview that "the case shows how important it is that people who don't have residency rights quickly face a court and can be speedily sent back home".

In May last year, B. allegedly beat, raped and strangled Susanna to death in a wooded area near his refugee shelter in Wiesbaden.

Her body was then buried in a shallow grave covered with leaves, twigs and soil.

When her remains were found two weeks later, B. and his family had left Germany for Arbil, northern Iraq.

However following a public outcry, he was arrested by Kurdish security forces and German federal police hauled the suspect back from Iraq.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, B. was put on a flight to Germany, with pictures of him disembarking under heavy police guard making front pages.

B. also faces charges for a park robbery in which he allegedly beat, strangled and threatened a man with a knife to steal his watch, bag, phone and bank card.

He faces a separate trial from March 19, accused of having twice raped an 11-year-old girl -- once in April 2018 after locking her in his room, and again near a supermarket car park the following month.

Prosecutors have also laid charges against an Afghan youth who was living in the same refugee shelter, Mansoor Q., who was believed to be aged at least 14 at the time, for also raping the 11-year-old girl.

And prosecutors have said B.'s younger brother -- who is believed to be in Iraq, according to media reports -- also took part in a violent sexual assault against the younger girl.</s>BERLIN — A rejected Iraqi asylum-seeker admitted killing a 14-year-old local girl as he went on trial in Germany Tuesday in a case that fuelled tensions over migration. He denied raping her.

The 22-year-old Ali Bashar is accused of assaulting and murdering Susanna Feldman in the western city of Wiesbaden in May. Bashar and his family abruptly left a home for asylum applicants in Germany after the killing, and he was later extradited from Iraq.

The defendant admitted to the Wiesbaden state court as his trial opened that he killed the girl, news agency dpa reported.

“I don’t know how this could happen,” he said through an interpreter. He said that they had had consensual sex before the killing.

Bashar said he had met the girl through a mutual acquaintance about three months previously, that they had often spent time together and he hadn’t known how old she was.

There are no formal pleas in the German legal system. The trial is scheduled to last at least until early May.

Bashar is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to the country, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application at the time of the killing.</s>An Iraqi man goes on trial in Germany Tuesday accused of the rape and murder of a teenage girl that inflamed anti-immigrant tensions amid a mass influx of asylum seekers.

The accused, Ali Bashar, 22, left Germany for northern Iraq shortly after the May 2018 crime but was brought back in a mission joined personally by federal police chief Dieter Romann.

Bashar's trial for the rape-murder of 14-year-old schoolgirl Susanna Maria Feldman will start under tight security at 0830 GMT in the city of Wiesbaden.

To Germany's far right, the alleged killer, who is also accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in a separate case, has become a symbol of the threat allegedly posed by the wave of newcomers.

Before the trial, the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party again blamed Chancellor Angela Merkel and her grand coalition or "GroKo" government for Susanna's death.

"The problem isn't 'the right' but the knife-man immigration caused by the GroKo that has caused ever more bloody crimes," the party wrote in a Facebook post.

The AfD became the biggest opposition party when it entered parliament in late 2017, riding a wave of public anger over sexual assaults and other violent crimes committed by some recent migrants.

In another case last year, the fatal stabbing of a German man in the eastern city of Chemnitz, allegedly by immigrants, sparked outbursts of mob violence in which far-right extremists hunted people of foreign appearance through the streets.

Bashar, along with his parents and five siblings, first arrived in Germany in 2015, the year that saw the peak of the migrant influx which would bring more than one million people to Europe's top economy.

His request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but -- in a case critics label as symptomatic of an overwhelmed and dysfunctional system -- he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

In May last year, Bashar allegedly beat, raped and strangled Susanna to death in a wooded area near his refugee shelter in Wiesbaden.

Her body was then buried in a shallow grave covered with leaves, twigs and soil.

When her body was found two weeks later, Bashar and his family had left Germany for Arbil, northern Iraq.

However following a public outcry, he was arrested by Kurdish security forces and German federal police hauled Bashar back from Iraq.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, Bashar was put on a flight to Germany, with pictures of him disembarking under heavy police guard making front pages.

Bashar also faces charges for a park robbery in which he allegedly beat, strangled and threatened a man with a knife to steal his watch, bag, phone and bank card.

He faces a separate trial from March 19, accused of having twice raped an 11-year-old girl -- once in April 2018 after locking her in his room, and again near a supermarket carpark the following month.

Prosecutors have also laid charges against an Afghan youth who was living in the same refugee shelter, Mansoor Q., who was believed to be aged at least 14 at the time, for also raping the 11-year-old girl.

And prosecutors have said Bashar's younger brother -- who is believed to be in Iraq, according to media reports -- also took part in a violent sexual assault against the younger girl.</s>BERLIN — A rejected Iraqi asylum-seeker accused of murdering and raping a 14-year-old local girl has gone on trial in Germany, in a case that fueled tensions over migration.

The 22-year-old Ali Bashar is accused of assaulting and killing Susanna Feldman in the western city of Wiesbaden in May. Bashar and his family abruptly left a home for asylum applicants in Germany after the killing, and he was later extradited from Iraq.

Bashar’s trial opened at the state court in Wiesbaden on Tuesday and is scheduled to last at least until early May.

He is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to the country, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application at the time of the killing.</s>(Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A failed Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker in Germany has confessed to a court that he murdered a German teen, but denied charges that he raped her.“My vision went black and then it happened,” Ali Bashar, 22, told a German court on Tuesday. “I don’t know how it could have happened.”Prosecutors in Germany charged Bashar in January for beating and raping 14-year-old Susanna Feldman on May 23, 2018. His trial began on March 11.Related Article: Iraqi Kurdish man charged for rape, murder of German teen Susanna FeldmanThe Feldman murder, dubbed the “Susanna Case,” sparked controversy across Germany regarding the country’s migrant policy. Millions of immigrants from various countries have come to Germany since a 2015 decision to open the border to refugees fleeing Syria and other nations, and it has become a hot-button issue, further dividing an already partisan and hostile political environment in the country.Following the murder, Bashar fled Germany to the Kurdistan Region before police in the Duhok governorate arrested him after Berlin issued an arrest warrant. He later admitted to Kurdish authorities that he killed Feldman.Duhok city police chief Tariq Ahmed told Kurdistan 24 in June that the suspect had confessed to murdering Feldman following interrogation by Kurdish security authorities.According to Ahmed, Bashar and the German teen were friends who were “on a trip to the woods” where “they consumed a lot of alcohol and drugs” before getting into an argument, during which the girl tried to call the police.Fearing a severe charge if the police showed up since Feldman was under 18, Ahmed said the Bashar “choked her and buried her beneath the dirt.”After his confession, the Iraqi Kurdish man was deported back to Germany and taken to a Frankfurt jail.Although Bashar denies that he raped the 14-year-old, an autopsy of Feldman’s body revealed signs of a violent and sexual attack.The trial is expected to last until May as the 22-year-old is also charged with the rape of an 11-year-old at a refugee home where he lived in Wiesbaden, western Germany.Editing by John J. Catherine</s>(Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- BERLIN,— The trial of Ali Bashar, accused of raping and killing a teenage girl, has commenced under tight security. The defendant has confessed to the murder but has denied the rape charge.A 22-year-old man confessed to strangling a teenage girl to death at the opening of his murder trial on Tuesday in the western German city of Wiesbaden, but denied that he had raped her beforehand.The defendant, an Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker identified as Ali Bashar, told the court that he killed the 14-year-old jewish schoolgirl Susanna Maria Feldman in May 2018.“Everything went black and then it happened,” Ali Bashar said through an interpreter. “I don’t know how it could have happened.”Ali Bashar, who fled from Iraqi Kurdistan with his family in 2015, also apologized to the parents of Susanna Maria Feldman, saying he knew that his “apology can’t make anything right again.”Denies rapeIn his confession, Ali Bashar insisted that he and Susanna Maria Feldman had consensual sex before she was killed.Prosecutors allege that the man forced the girl to have sex with him and then killed her after she threatened to go to the police. Afterward, according to prosecutors, he and an unknown accomplice buried her body before he allegedly used her phone to text her mother that she was in Paris.When her remains were found two weeks later, Ali Bashar and his family had left Germany for Iraq. He was then arrested by Kurdish security forces and was taken back to Germany. despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Baghdad and Berlin.Heavy securityThe case has ignited the immigration debate in Germany, with the nations far right using Ali Bashar as a symbol of a threat allegedly posed by asylum seekers from the Middle East.Several dozen protesters demonstrated outside the courthouse in Wiesbaden, where the crime took place, displaying a sign reading “No Leniency for Muslims.”A verdict in the trial is not expected until May. Ali Bashar faces life imprisonment if found guilty and could be deported back to Iraq, though he will likely serve half of a prison sentence in Germany. He also faces a separate trial from March 19 where he has been charged with twice raping an 11-year-old girl.Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, dw.com | Ekurd.netComments Comments
Ali Bashar confesses in court in Germany to killing teenager Susanna Feldmann. Bashar is a failed asylum seeker from Iraq. The case prompted national debate and a pledge by Angela Merkel to call for improvements to the deportation system in Germany. Counterterror police traveled to Iraq in order to return him to Germany, as he had already been deported when he was identified in connection to the murder; Iraq has no extradition treaty with Germany.