BAGHDAD, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi arrived Saturday in Baghdad carrying a letter from Jordanian King Abdullah II to Iraqi leaders over de-escalation in the region.
Safadi arrived in Baghdad airport in the morning and was received by his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed al-Hakim, and the two held a meeting to discuss the latest development in the region and means to de-escalate the tension as well as the need to respect Iraq's sovereignty.
At a joint press conference after their meeting, Safadi said "I have come to Iraq carrying a letter from King Abdullah II to the Iraqi president and the prime minister about coordinating efforts to reduce the escalation in the region."
"The position of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was clear by calling for reduction of escalation and use of dialogue as a way to resolve crises and to ensure that Iraq is not an arena for conflict and tension," Safadi told reporters.
For his part, al-Hakim said that he affirmed the need to "respect Iraq's sovereignty and that Iraq to be a factor of stability in the region and in the world, and we have rejected making Iraq an arena for conflict and settling scores."
Al-Hakim also confirmed that "any escalation in the region would enhance the ability of terrorists to re-organize and undermine the efforts of the international community to combat terrorism."
Safadi's visit to Baghdad came after the tension grew high between the United States and Iran after the killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps by a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3 near Baghdad International Airport.
Early on Jan. 8, Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq's western province of Anbar and near the city of Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
