Iran supported Iraqi President Fuad Masum's recent choice for prime minister position, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said here on Tuesday.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the legal procedure paved for choosing the new Iraqi prime minister," Shamkhani was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars news agency.

"The legal framework envisaged in Iraq's constitution, which is the country's national convention, presents the basis for the election of the prime minister by the majority fraction at Iraq's national assembly," he said following the nomination of Haidar al- Abadi as the new premier by Iraq's president on Monday.

All Iraqi political groups should respect national unity and national interests as well as the rule of the law, said Shamkhani as Iran's first official reaction to the nomination of al-Abadi.

The Iraqi outgoing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is blamed by his rivals and some of his allies for the recent tensions in the Arab state, has also lost Shiite-governed Iran's support for him.

The nomination of al-Abadi, which will end al-Maliki's eight- year rule as the premier, was censured by al-Maliki on Monday. Endi

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