Acting Iranian FM arrives in Erbil, meets Kurdish officials

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Friday arrived in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, where he met with top Kurdish officials, and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties.

Bagheri was received by Kurdistan Region's Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed at the Erbil International Airport and later met with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani.

"During the meeting, they emphasized the importance of the Islamic Republic of Iran's relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region based on good neighborliness and mutual interests. They also expressed their mutual desire to enhance these relations, particularly in the areas of economy and trade," read a statement from the Kurdistan Region presidency.

During the meeting with Prime Minister Barzani, the two sides agreed to "pursue bilateral relations based on mutual interests", according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

“The acting foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran reiterated his country's desire to strengthen relations with the Kurdistan Region in all areas,” it added.


During a press conference following the meeting, the KRG prime minister said that he talked about “bolstering political stability in the region, we discussed the region's security issues."

President Barzani arrived in Tehran on May 6 and met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, late President Ebrahim Raisi, and late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The trip was aimed at reassuring Erbil’s allies that the Kurdistan Region will not become a source of threat to the interests of its neighbors, especially Iran, according to Kurdistan Region presidency spokesperson Dilshad Shahab.

“It [The visit] had a major and direct role in returning the relationship to its normal form, and the evidence of this is the exchange of visits and the presence of delegations between the two countries, and on top of that is the visit of the [acting] Foreign Minister [Ali Bagheri Kani] to the Kurdistan Region,” Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadeq, Iran's ambassador to Baghdad, told Rudaw's Anmar Ghazi.

Before his death, Raisi was scheduled to visit Erbil on May 29.

The Kurdistan Region and Iran enjoy good economic relations. During a forum in Sulaimani in April, Barzani said that Iran contributed to the economic “success” of the Kurdistan Region.

But the overall relations between the two sides have been fluctuating, mainly due to Tehran’s attacks on exiled Kurdish groups and deadly missile strikes on locations that it alleged were Mossad bases in the Region.

Iran's acting foreign minister also visited Sulaimani province, meeting with KRG Deputy PM Qubad Talabani. 

The minister told reporters in a press conference that his meetings with Kurdish officials in Erbil were "very good."

He thanked Kurdish officials for offering their condolences for the recent death of Iranian president and other top officials in a helicopter crash.

"We have come here to emphasize on the deepening of relations between Iraq, Iran and the Kurdistan Region."