Iran’s President in Neighboring Iraq on First Visit

By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has arrived in Iraq on his first state visit since inauguration as Iran’s chief executive in late July.

The president’s plane touched down at Baghdad International Airport in the Arab country's capital on Wednesday.

He is visiting Iraq at the head of a ranking political and economic delegation at the invitation of the Arab country’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

The three-day visit is expected to feature meetings with senior Iraqi officials, conclusion of mutual cooperation agreements, and attendance at gatherings with the Iraq-based Iranians, including businessmen.

Following the official meetings, the president will be traveling the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala to visit the shrines of Imam Ali and Imam Hussein [AS], the first and third Shia Imams respectively.

During his stay in Iraq, Pezeshkian is also slated to visit the southwestern Iraqi city of Basra to inspect the projects being implemented by Iranian firms there and visit the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region’s capital of Erbil and city of Sulaymaniyah at the invitation of the semi-autonomous region’s officials.

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is accompanying the president on the visit, said before the departure that the country and Iraq were to sign as many as 15 memorandums of understanding during the president’s stay.

The top diplomat hoped that the visit helps further deepen the “strategic profundity” of the countries’ relations and “cause our cooperation with Iraq to enter a new stage.”