Iran’s foreign minister to visit Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit Baghdad on Sunday for meetings with Iraqi leaders amid rising regional tensions, according to an informed source.

Araghchi is expected to meet with President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, a source from Iran’s embassy in Baghdad told Rudaw, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that Araghchi will discuss relations between the neighboring countries as well as regional developments.

Iraq is trying to stay out of growing hostility between rivals Iran and Israel as Israel continues its wars in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

On October 1, Iran launched around 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel. Tehran said the barrage was in response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah secretary general Hasan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Abbas Nilforoushan.

Israel has vowed to respond.

The current conflict was ignited a year ago between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Recently, Israel has escalated its ground operations and airstrikes in southern Lebanon, where it is targeting Hezbollah. 

Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran have joined the conflict, launching drones at Israel. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a shadow militia group affiliated with the IRGC, announced on Saturday that it launched drones against “vital targets” in the occupied Golan Heights. In a second statement, the group vowed to continue its attacks at an “escalating pace.”

These attacks by the militia groups have raised concerns that Iraq could be dragged into the war, something Iraqi officials say they want to avoid.

“Iraq is making every valuable and courageous effort, led by the prime minister and political leaders, to steer clear of any problems that may arise for the country and to protect its people,” national security advisor Qassim al-Araji told Rudaw’s Ziad Ismail.

Israeli bombardments have killed 2,255 people and injured 10,524 others in Lebanon since last October, according to data compiled by the Lebanese health ministry. Nearly a quarter of the population, 1.2 million people, has been displaced, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in early October.

Over the past several weeks, Iraq has welcomed more than 7,000 Lebanese nationals seeking refuge, Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the migration ministry, told Rudaw on Wednesday.