“In setting fire to #Iran's Consulate-General in #Basra, footprint of foreign elements & warmongers is bold. Not let British #Shi'ism & Saudi #Wahhabism stir up #Iraq. #Tehran-#Bagdad ties will remain strategic,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian said in a message posted on his Twitter account on Sunday.
This week, Iraq’s second-biggest city was rocked by five days of deadly demonstrations, in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight by protesters angry over perceived political corruption.
On Friday evening, a mob of angry protestors stormed into the Iranian consulate in Basra, destroyed the diplomatic mission’s properties, took down the flag of Iran and torched the building.
The Iranian consulate’s building was not the first to be set on fire. The angry demonstrators had earlier set government buildings ablaze as well. The buildings included the headquarters of the local government, the ruling Dawa Party, the Supreme Islamic Council and the Badr Organization.