TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi Parliament's Vice-Speaker Heydar Al-Ebadi is due to visit Iran on Tuesday to participate in the Inter-Parliamentary Union troika meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the dire conditions of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
New Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jubouri in a press conference apologized the Iranian government for not being able to take part in the OIC troika meeting due to its concurrence with the presidential election in the Iraqi parliament.
Al-Jubouri announced that Iraq's vice-speaker will travel to Iran to attend the meeting, instead.
The PUIC Troika consists of the previous, current, and future presidents of the PUIC Conference, which is currently presided by Iran.
Earlier today, Iranian parliamentary officials announced that seven parliament speakers will take part in the IPU troika meeting of the OIC in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss the Gaza crisis.
"The troika which consists of its current president, Iran, the former president, Sudan, and the next president, Mali, will be held on Tuesday and a final resolution will be issued after the parliament speakers' speeches," President of the Iranian parliament's Research Center Kazzem Jalali said in a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.
Noting that the number of parliament speakers who are due to take part in the troika meeting has not yet been finalized, he said, "The presence of 7 parliament speakers from Mali, Turkey, Sudan, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria and Iraq has been confirmed and a high-ranking delegation from Lebanon will take part in the meeting as well."
Jalali said that other countries, including Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Malaysia and Indonesia have also been invited to the meeting.
On July 14, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani held phone calls with his Malian and Sudanese counterparts Issaka Sidib and Fatih Ezzedine al-Mansur as the previous and future chairmen of the PUIC Conference, and called for an emergency meeting of the PUIC Troika over the deadly Israeli air raids on the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Israel has been pounding the blockaded Gaza for 13 consecutive days, killing at least 355 people and injuring more than 2,600 others.
Four out of every five Palestinians killed during Israel's ongoing military offensive in Gaza have been civilians, including dozens of women and children, the United Nations said on Monday.