Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has strongly criticized German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock for making anti-Iran statements in her visit to Iraq, saying the minister should instead have apologized for Germany’s past crimes against Iran and Iraq, IRNA reported.

In a statement on Wednesday, Kanaani said Baerbock’s unfounded claims against the Islamic Republic of Iran in her visit to Baghdad was a bid to cover up her country’s support for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran in the 1980s.

He pointed to Germany’s provision of chemical weapons to Saddam’s regime during the Iran-Iraq war, saying that the deadly weapons were used against Iraq’s own citizens as well as against Iranian and Iraqi civilians and military forces during the war.

“Currently, a significant number of terrorist and armed separatist groups who have the blood of civilians from Iran and Iraq on their hands are living in Germany,” said Kanaani.

“The governments and nations in the region will never forget the performance of certain Western governments, including Germany, in fomenting wars and supporting hawkish dictators,” he added.

Earlier, German FM Annalena Baerbock had arrived in Iraq and announced—during a joint news conference with her Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein—the "inadmissibility" of Iran's actions.

Iran's missile strikes in Iraq endanger the stability of the entire region, she had said.