Iran's president begins three-day visit to neighboring Iraq
President Masoud Pezeshkian, in his first foreign trip two months after taking office as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, began an official three-day visit to Iraq, a key country for both Tehran and Washington.
According to Tehran’s envoy in Baghdad, Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh, President Pezeshkian was invited by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani. In addition to visiting the capital, Baghdad, Pezeshkian will also travel to the Shiite city of Basra and the Kurdish region of Erbil during his official visit.
He met al-Sudani at the airport, where they reviewed a guard of honour. The visit would include the signing of a number of agreements and discussion of the Gaza war and the situation in the Middle East.
"We are planning to sign several agreements," Iran's state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying before his departure.
Pezeshkian also held a meeting with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that around 15 MoUs would be signed, Iranian state media reported. "We have several cooperation areas, including political, regional ... and security issues," Araqchi said.
The relationship between the Islamic Republic and Iraq is complex, with Tehran wielding significant influence over its Arab neighbor through the Shiite religious, political, and paramilitary groups it supports. However, tensions arise due to the presence of Iranian Kurdish armed groups sheltering in Iraq's Kurdistan region, complicating the dynamic between the two nations.
In March 2023, Iran and Iraq signed a security agreement under which Tehran gave Iraq a deadline of September 19, 2023, to disarm Iranian Kurdish parties based in the Kurdistan region and close their military camps.
Last week, just before Pezeshkian’s scheduled visit, three Iranian Kurdish armed groups were relocated to a "less accessible" camp in Iraqi Kurdistan after months of pressure from Tehran on both the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq’s central government.
A rare partner of both the United States and Iran, Iraq hosts 2,500 US troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces. Since 2019, these groups have periodically targeted US military bases in Iraq, occasionally soliciting military responses from the United States. The attacks escalated after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and mostly stopped in February after retaliatory US air strikes on the Iran-backed groups.
"We are planning to sign several agreements," Iran's state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying ahead of the visit. "We will meet senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad."
The United States and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, say sources familiar with the matter.
Iran has carried out artillery and missile attacks on targets in Iraq Kurdistan in the past, saying it is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups as well as agents of its arch-foe Israel.
"We have several co-operation areas, including political, regional ... and security issues," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said ahead of the president's trip, according to state media.
Iran’s expectations from the Iraqi government, however, go further than simply relocating Kurdish groups they have demanded the extradition of dozens of separatist leaders and the complete disarming of all militias.
Iran exports electricity to Iraq, with US permission despite American sanctions, however recouping the proceeds in hard currency has been an issue for Tehran, because Washington has not waived banking sanctions on Iran. Last year, the Biden administration allowed Iraq to pay $11 billion in accumulated debts to Iran, but only indirectly.