ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit Iraq on an official invitation from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, Tehran’s envoy to Baghdad told Iranian state media (IRNA) on Wednesday. Pezeshkian will head a high-ranking delegation to Baghdad, according to Tehran’s Ambassador Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadeq. No date was given. The two sides will put pen to paper on several agreements that were supposed to be signed during a trip that was planned for the late president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, Sadeq said. This will be Pezeshkian’s first trip abroad and first to Iraq as president, after winning a snap election last month. The invitation was issued during a phone call between the two leaders days after Pezeshkian’s triumph in the vote. Iran and Iraq enjoy strong bilateral relations and have several economic and security agreements. They signed a security pact in March 2023 that saw Baghdad agree to disarm Kurdish opposition groups and secure the border regions. Iran had threatened to use military action if Baghdad failed to fulfill the agreement. Two weeks before Raisi’s death, Kurdistan Region President Nechrivan Barzani traveled to Iran, normalizing ties that were harmed after Iran attacked the Kurdish capital with ballistic missiles in January. While in Tehran, President Barzani invited Raisi to visit Erbil as part of a planned trip to Iraq. IRNA did not mention whether Pezeshkian has plans to visit Erbil.
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