Sec Tillerson, King Salman meet with Abadi on Iranian influence in Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was received by King Salman of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, when US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in the capital Riyadh for talks on regional cooperation.

Both Washington  and Riyadh want to counter the Iranian influence in Iraq and the region. Tillerson is to take part in the first joint Iraqi-Saudi cooperation council that the two sides say is to boost economic and security cooperation.

The visit comes as the Saudi Oil Minister Khaled al-Faleh was in Baghdad on Friday where he called for stronger economic ties between the two neighbors.

The Saudi King and Iraqi PM held a telephone conversation on Monday as Iraqi forces, backed by the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi took control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk from the Peshmerga forces.

King Salman expressed his support for the unity of Iraq, the two sides stated. But the Iraqi readout of the meeting said that the Saudi monarch also rejected the Kurdish independence referendum.

Saudi Arabia suspended diplomatic ties with Iraq in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under the former regime of Saddam Hussein. Twenty-five years later the Saudi Embassy reopened in Baghdad at the end of 2015.

About six months later though, relations experienced yet another blow. The Iraqi government asked Saudi Arabia to stop “interfering” in its internal affairs in a strong statement a day after the Saudi foreign minister had said that the Shiite militia group known as Hashd al-Shaabi must be disbanded.

Iraqi PM last visited Saudi Arabia in June where he said that Baghdad will not become part of any axis policy, a reference to the regional rivalry between the Shiite majority Riyadh and Sunni majority in Tehran, with their influence playing out in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, among others.

Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's former and longest serving foreign minister said in a tweet that Washington and Riyadh try to save Iraq from the Iranian influence, but all in vain. He called US efforts to disengage the Iraqi PM from Iran  as “mirage and self-delusions.”

Saudi Arabia has enjoyed good relation with the Kurdistan Region. Riyadh has a consulate in Erbil.