BAGHDAD, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi received Monday a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the drone attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
A statement by Abdul Mahdi's media office said the two sides "evaluated their position on the current crisis and agreed to cooperate in the exchange of information."
Abdul Mahdi confirmed that Iraq seeks to avoid any escalation and to prevent the use of its territory against any neighboring or friendly country, asserting that Iraq is seeking "to play a positive role to dismantle the crises and conflicts in the region," according to the statement.
The statement also said that Pompeo told Abdul Mahdi that "the information they (the United States) have confirms the Iraqi government's (earlier) statement not to use its territory to carry out this attack."
On Sunday, a statement by Abdul Mahdi's office denied media reports which claimed that the Iraqi territory had been used to launch attacks by drones on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqi government "confirms its constitutional commitment to preventing the use of its territory for aggression on its neighbors," Abdul Mahdi's office said.
The statement also said that Iraq vowed to punish anyone who intended to violate the constitution by using Iraq as a launch pad for attacks in the region.
Pompeo's phone call came two days after he blamed Iran for launching the recent attacks on two Aramco oil plants in the east of Saudi Arabia, but the accusation was denied by Tehran.
On Saturday, a "10-drone attack" for which Yemen's Houthis have claimed responsibility, targeted Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco's facilities in Abqaiq and the Hijrat Khurais oilfield.
The attacks on the two Saudi Arabia's oil production facilities have halted about half of the supplies from the world's top exporter and raised global concerns over oil supplies.
