Iran's Pezeshkian arrives in Iraq on first foreign trip

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian landed in Baghdad on Wednesday, in his first foreign visit since assuming office. He will visit the Kurdistan Region during his trip. 

Pezeshkian was received by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani upon arriving. His agenda includes bilateral meetings with senior Iraqi leaders and the signing of cooperation agreements and security memoranda, Iranian state media reported. 

“During this trip, we will visit Shiite cities and Basra as well as Kurdish cities, Erbil and Sulaimani,” Pezeshkian told reporters in Tehran before departing for Baghdad. 

Neighbors Iraq and Iran share strong bilateral relations and have several economic and security agreements. 

The Iranian president was also received in the capital by other high-level Iraqi officials including President Abdul Latif Rashid.

 

 

The agreements between the two sides were supposed to be signed during a planned trip for late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Mohammed Kazem Al-e Sadeq said in August.

The visit marks Pezeshkian’s first trip abroad and first to Iraq as president after winning in Iran’s snap presidential election in June. He was invited by Sudani during a phone call between the two leaders after his election victory. 

Iraq and Iran 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.

Iranian Consul General to Erbil Nasrollah Rashnoudi told Rudaw on Tuesday that Pezeshkian’s visit to the Kurdistan Region comes with an official invitation by President Nechirvan Barzani.

“The continued visits of Nechirvan Barzani to Iran were impactful,” Rashnoudi said, adding that the Islamic republic has “strong” ties with Kurds.

Updated at 11:20 a.m.