Iran President Deepens Iraq Ties On First Foreign Trip

Baghdad, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Sep, 2024) 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.

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 states a priority as he seeks to ease Iran's international isolation and mitigate the impact of US-led sanctions on its economy.

His visit comes after Western powers on Tuesday announced fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range missiles for use against Ukraine.

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.

"Relations with neighbouring countries... can neutralise a significant amount of pressure of the sanctions," he said last month.

Iran has suffered years of crippling Western sanctions, especially after its arch-foe the United States, under then-president Donald Trump, unilaterally abandoned a landmark nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and major powers in 2018.

- Key trade partners -

Iran has become one of Iraq's leading trade partners.

Every year, millions of Iranian pilgrims travel to Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and Pezeshkian will also visit the shrines there.

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 power plants, under a regularly renewed waiver from US sanctions.

Iraq is billions of Dollars in arrears on its payments for the imports, which cover 30 percent of its electricity needs.

Political scientist Ali al-Baidar said expanding trade ties was a major goal of Pezeshkian's visit.

"Iran needs the Iraqi market for its exports, just as it needs Iraq's energy imports," the Iraqi analyst said.

Pezeshkian also discussed the sharing of water resources with his Iraqi counterpart.