Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Baghdad on Sept. 11, where he held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani and other Iraqi officials.
The visit, expected to last three days, is Pezeshkian’s first foreign trip since assuming office last month after winning the July presidential elections.
Speaking to Iranian media before the visit, Pezeshkian said he and his delegation planned to meet “senior Iraqi officials” in Baghdad and sign “several agreements.”
Shortly before Pezeshkian’s visit, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Iranian media outlets that the two countries shared “several cooperation areas, including political, regional ... and security issues.”
According to the statement, bilateral talks will also address “strengthening economic, security, and trade cooperation, along with partnerships in several developmental sectors.”
Iranian influence in Iraq has steadily grown since 2003, when a U.S.-led invasion toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, under whom the country fought a bloody eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s.
A major oil producer, Iraq now hosts a number of Iran-aligned militant factions, several of which are informally linked to the country’s security apparatus.
Complicating the situation, Iraq also hosts roughly 2,500 U.S. troops as part of a U.S.-led coalition tasked with fighting the ISIS terrorist group.
Since Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip last October in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, militant factions based in Iraq have staged several attacks on U.S. forces deployed in the country.
The United States has responded with sporadic military strikes that have killed several Iraqi militant leaders, drawing condemnation from Baghdad and Tehran.
Repeated U.S. strikes have led to mounting calls by Iraq for an end to the U.S.-led coalition’s mandate and the departure of U.S. troops from the country.
After a U.S. drone strike killed a militia leader in January, al-Sudani declared his “firm position” on terminating the U.S.-led coalition’s mandate in Iraq.
Soon afterward, Baghdad and Washington set up a joint “military commission” to set a timeline for ending the coalition’s mandate.
Despite months of discussions, however, the joint commission has yet to announce an official termination date for coalition activities in Iraq.
Last month, the U.S. State Department said that discussions with Baghdad about the eventual departure of coalition personnel were “ongoing.”
On the evening of Sept. 10, a U.S. diplomatic compound—located near Baghdad’s airport—came under rocket attack by unknown perpetrators.
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq said it was assessing the damage and cause of the attack, which, it said, had not resulted in casualties.
In a statement, Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned, U.S.-designated terrorist group based in Iraq, said the attack was meant to disrupt the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad.
The terrorist group also called on Baghdad to investigate to determine who was behind the attack.
Iran Leader to Visit Kurdistan
During his three-day visit to Iraq, the Iranian president is also slated to visit the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, both revered by Shiite Muslims.According to Iranian media, Pezeshkian also plans to visit Iraq’s Kurdish region, which achieved semi-autonomy from Baghdad following the U.S. invasion in 2003.
Iran has previously staged missile strikes against Kurdish targets in the area, claiming the region is used by Iranian separatist groups to carry out anti-Tehran activities.
In the past, Tehran has also said—without providing evidence—that Israeli intelligence is particularly active in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Last year, Iraq began relocating Iranian Kurdish groups away from the region’s border with Iran as part of a security deal signed between Baghdad and Tehran.
