Iraq has evidence that external parties used its territory to launch attacks on neighbouring countries, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in an interview published on Saturday.

Baghdad is investigating assaults fired from Iraqi soil against Gulf states and is seeking to settle disagreements with Saudi Arabia through dialogue, Hussein said. Riyadh has accused Iran aligned groups operating in Iraq of hitting Saudi oil infrastructure. In September, Baghdad confirmed that drone attacks on the kingdom's East West pipeline originated from inside Iraq.

Hussein said the government was negotiating with Iran aligned armed factions to bring their weapons under state control, insisting the process must proceed through talks rather than force. He added that Iraq was also in contact with Tehran on the same issue.

Authorities had first set a deadline of 30 September for factions to place weapons under state authority, timed with the end of the US led coalition mandate against ISIL. Resistance pushed that deadline back to June 2027, even as Washington kept pressing for disarmament.

On the balance between Tehran and Washington, Hussein confirmed that the United States had formally asked Iraq to close all but two border crossings with Iran. He said Baghdad welcomed friendship with Tehran but rejected interference in its internal affairs.

Iraq lost about sixty billion dollars from the suspension of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, he said, though shipments have resumed after understandings with Washington and Tehran. After the coalition pullout, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Turkey have formed a committee to fight remaining ISIL activity in Syria.