Source: AFP
Iran and Iraq signed more than a dozen agreements on Wednesday to deepen already strong ties as Massoud Pezheskian visited Baghdad on his first trip abroad as president of the Islamic Republic.
The three-day trip comes amid turmoil in the Middle East sparked by the war in Gaza, which has drawn in armed groups backed by Iran and complicated Iraq’s relations with the United States.
Speaking at a news conference alongside Pezeskian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said both governments oppose any extension of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“In light of the escalation the region is going through, we have talked a lot about the importance of stability,” Sudani said, blaming Israel for spreading the war regionally.
Pezeshkian announced that “14 memorandums of cooperation were signed between Iran and Iraq, which is the starting point for the expansion of cooperation.”
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“If we are together, we will avoid falling into the fire,” he added.
“Neutralize the pressure of sanctions”
Pezeskian has pledged to make relations with neighboring countries a priority as he seeks to ease Iran’s international isolation and soften the impact of US-led sanctions on its economy.
His visit comes after Western powers on Tuesday announced new sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range missiles for use against Ukraine.
Hours before Pezeskian arrived, an explosion rocked a US diplomatic base at Baghdad International Airport but caused no casualties, according to the US embassy.
Ties between Iran and Iraq, both Shiite-majority countries, have grown closer since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled the Sunni regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
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Pezeskian, who took office in July following a snap election following the death of his predecessor Ibrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, has in the past linked the tightening of ties to the pressure of sanctions.
Source: AFP
“Relations with neighboring countries … can neutralize a significant pressure of sanctions,” he said last month.
Iran has suffered years of crippling Western sanctions, especially after its archenemy the United States, under then-President Donald Trump, unilaterally abandoned a major nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and major powers in 2018.
Key trading partners
Iran has become one of Iraq’s top trading partners and wields significant political influence in Baghdad.
Each year, millions of Iranian pilgrims travel to the Iraqi Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and Pezeshkian will also visit shrines there during his visit.
Non-oil trade between Iran and Iraq reached nearly $5 billion during the five months to March 2024, Iranian media reported.
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Iran also exports millions of cubic meters of natural gas per day to Iraq to power its power plants under a regularly renewed exemption from US sanctions.
Iraq is billions of dollars behind in payments for imports, which cover 30% of its electricity needs.
Political scientist Ali al-Baidar said that expanding trade ties was a main goal of Pezeskian’s visit.
“Iran needs the Iraqi market for its exports, just as it needs Iraq’s energy imports,” the Iraqi analyst said.
Withdrawal of American troops
Source: AFP
Washington still has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of an international coalition against the Islamic State group.
Last winter, US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria were targeted dozens of times by drones and rockets, as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has drawn Iran-backed armed groups across the middle east.
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The barrage of attacks triggered retaliatory US airstrikes in both countries.
On Sunday, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al-Abbassi told the pan-Arab Al-Hadath television channel that the US-led coalition would withdraw from most of Iraq by September 2025 and the autonomous Kurdish region by September 2026.
Despite protracted talks, target dates have yet to be agreed between Baghdad and Washington.
Speaking to Iraqi media, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was “very happy that the Iraqi parliament approved the bill calling for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.”
“Peace and security will not be achieved in our region with the presence of foreign forces,” he added.
Pezeskian will also travel to the Kurdish regional capital Arbil for talks with Kurdish officials, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.
In March last year, Tehran signed a security deal with the federal government in Baghdad after launching airstrikes against bases of Iranian Kurdish rebel groups in the autonomous region.
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They have since agreed to disarm the rebels and remove them from the border areas.
Source: AFP
