IRNA – Iranian Parliament speaker slammed the recent terrorist attacks on two mosques in New Zealand, urging the Foreign Ministry to put on its agenda finding the root cause of the incident.

Ali Larijani called on the Iranian Foreign Ministry to follow up the issue through Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the secretary general of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU).

He also extended condolences to the families of the victims of the brutal attack.

Larijani also called for following up roots of the attack since they are propagating Islamophobia.

Iran is suspicious whether the New Zealand terrorist incident has happened on this pretext or has been resulted by racism, he reiterated.

At least 49 people have been killed so far, and 50 seriously injured, after gunmen opened fire at two mosques in the New Zealand's city of Christchurch on Friday when hundreds of Muslims had gathered to say their prayers.

A group of senior international figures, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Parliament speaker together with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) have so far condemned the heinous terrorist attacks.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani appreciated Iraqi government and people for hosting President Rouhani.

He noted that during Rouhani's trip grounds have been prepared in economic, political, security, religious and tourism fields.

Rouhani's visit to Iraq took place upon the official invitation of his Iraqi counterpart President Barham Salih and also Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Exploring avenues for promoting bilateral relations in the political, economic and cultural fields were among the main objectives of the Iranian president’s official visit to Iraq.

Both countries earlier released a final statement in which they have agreed on no-fee visas, construction of border railway connecting the two countries, establishing joint industrial parks, oil and gas cooperation as well as dredging a border river.

The Iranian and Iraqi authorities signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on issues such as oil, trade, health and rail transit via Shalamcheh-Basra.

The railroad, some 35 kilometers long, connects the Iranian border town of Shalamcheh to the Iraqi city of Basra. The route is meant to further speed up bilateral export and import in a bid to rapidly reach the target of $20 billion of annual trade volume. It could also significantly ease and facilitate tourism between the two neighbors.