“Joint measures by the two countries are to be discussed during my visit,” Lieutenant-General Othman al-Ghanemi said in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Major-General Mohammad Baqeri in Tehran on Sunday.

According to IRNA General Baqeri said that the ties between Iran and Iraq are expanding.

Iran’s top military commander added that the country and its neighbor Iraq have agreed to cooperate in the area of air defense to fend off the challenges facing their respective air spaces.

The cooperation, Baqeri said, will be aimed at confronting aerial threats.

The meeting addressed “the integrated defense of Iran and Iraq’s skies, because we might sense threats coming from the direction of [our] western borders,” he added.

“Accordingly, it was agreed that the countries’ air defense sectors work together and more coordination be made in this regard,” the Iranian commander was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying.

Al-Ghanemi arrived in Tehran on Saturday as a member of a high-ranking delegation, headed by Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, to meet with senior Iranian officials.

The Iraqi prime minister will also take part in the third Iran-Iraq economic commission. He had already visited Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.

Abdul Mahdi’s trip to Tehran is taking place at the invitation of President Rouhani.

Reporter’s code: 50101