Iran president deepens Iraq ties on first foreign trip

BAGHDAD: Iran and Iraq on Wednesday signed more than a dozen agreements to deepen already strong ties as Masoud Pezeshkian visited Baghdad on his first foreign trip as president of the Islamic republic.

The three-day trip comes amid turmoil in the Middle East sparked by the war in Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups and complicated Iraq's relations with the United States.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said both governments opposed any expansion of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

"In light of the escalation that the region has been going through, we have spoken a lot about the importance of stability," Sudani said, blaming Israel for the regional spillover of the war.

Pezeshkian announced that "14 cooperation memorandums were signed between Iran and Iraq, which is the starting point of the expansion of cooperation".

"If we are together, we will avoid falling into the fire," he added.

Neutralise pressure of sanctions

Pezeshkian has vowed to make relations with neighbouring countries a priority as he seeks to ease Iran's international isolation and mitigate the impact of US-led sanctions on its economy.

Ties between Iran and Iraq have grown closer since the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July after an early election following the death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, has previously linked shoring up ties to sanctions pressure.

Key trade partners

Iran has become one of Iraq's leading trade partners, and wields considerable political influence in Baghdad.

Non-oil trade between Iran and Iraq stood at nearly $5 billion over the five months from March 2024, Iranian media reported.

Iran also exports millions of cubic-metres of gas a day to Iraq to fuel its power plants, under a regularly renewed waiver from US sanctions.

US troop draw-down

Washington still has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighbouring Syria as part of an international coalition against the Islamic State.

Last winter, US-led coalition forces in both Iraq and Syria were targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.