Iranian president makes first trip abroad to Iraq in bid to tighten ties
Pezeshkian to meet officials in Baghdad, visit Kurdish zone where Iran has attacked separatists and alleged Israeli site, as Tehran looks to key neighbor amid tensions with West
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian traveled to Iraq on Wednesday on his first trip abroad, hoping to cement Tehran’s ties to Baghdad amid regional tensions threatening to pull the Middle East into a widening war.
For Iran, its relationship with Iraq remains crucial for economic, political and religious reasons — something that has especially been true since the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, who had launched a bloody, years-long war against Iran in the 1980s.
Baghdad, meanwhile, has been trying to calibrate its relationship with Tehran, which backs powerful Shiite militias in the country, as well as with the United States, which maintains a force of 2,500 troops in Iraq that remain in battle with remnants of the once-dominant extremist Islamic State group.
The American troops remain both a literal and rhetorical target for Iran and its proxies, who have staged attacks on both US troops and Israeli cities over the last 11 months in solidarity with Hamas amid Israel’s military campaign to topple the terror group and free hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Just before Pezeshkian’s arrival, an explosion struck a site near Baghdad International Airport used by the US military Tuesday night. The circumstances of the explosion were not clear and there was no immediate information on damages or casualties.
Pezeshkian, a relative moderate who was sworn in as Iran’s new president in July, will meet senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad, he said ahead of the trip, according to Iran state media.
He is also scheduled to visit Shiite shrines in the cities of Karbala and Najaf, a railroad project linking the southern port city of Basra to Iran, and Irbil, the capital of northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region.
“We are planning to sign several agreements,” Iran’s state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying.
Ahead of the trip, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told an Iraqi television channel that Pezeshkian hoped to tighten security relations with Baghdad, as well as economic ties.
“We want to see Iraq develop, grow, be prosperous and strong on our borders, and any economic project that achieves this goal enjoys our support,” Araghchi told Al-Furat Television, owned by Iraqi Shiite cleric and politician Ammar al-Hakim.
Still, there have been tensions between the former arch-foes, particularly over Iranian missile attacks on sites in Iraq over the past six years.
The assaults have targeted Kurdish militias, a base housing American forces and also what Tehran alleged was an Israeli site in Iraq. US airstrikes in Iraq and on the border with Syria have targeted the militias in response to attacks on American forces.
Iran also fired missiles and flew drones over Iraq in its unprecedented direct attack on Israel in April.
That attack followed a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria, that killed two Iranian generals and five officers, as well as a member of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, an Iranian ally.
The Islamic Republic has also threatened further retaliation against Israel over the July assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which could include another missile barrage. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing.
Baghdad has also tried to tackle Iranian concerns over regional separatist groups, moving to relocate some members in a 2023 security pact with Tehran.
For Iraq, close ties with the Shiite powerhouse next door are essential to maintain Iranian imports of natural gas necessary to meet its electricity needs.
A barter deal for Iraqi crude oil has seen the supply continue, though US sanctions targeting Tehran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program have put pressure on Baghdad to cut economic ties.
On Tuesday, the United States and Britain formally accused Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine, announcing new sanctions on both Moscow and Tehran.
