Kurdistan's President Barzani also in Tehran
PM Al-Sudani meets Iran’s leader Khamenei in Tehran
TEHRAN – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani met with the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran on Tuesday during his third visit to the Iranian capital in under a year. The meeting followed Al-Sudani’s attendance at the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new President, Masoud Pezeshkian.
In the meeting, Khamenei emphasized the importance of implementing bilateral agreements signed during the tenure of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency. In 2022, Iran and Iraq signed a security agreement to secure the nearly 1,600 km shared border and expel Iranian Kurdish opposition groups from border areas. Al-Sudani expressed Iraq’s readiness to implement these agreements and thanked Iran for its support for Palestinians, adding that the “Zionist regime has crossed all international and humanitarian red lines.”
Meanwhile, Kurdistan Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani also attended Pezeshkian’s swearing-in event at the Iranian Parliament and briefly met with the Commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, who plays a prominent role in administering Iraq and regional policy within the Iranian state apparatus. Barzani later met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Tehran. Barzani and Fidan expressed their mutual desire to “expand cooperation and strengthen Turkey’s relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in all areas,” according to a statement from Kurdistan Region’s Presidency.
This marked Barzani’s third trip to Tehran in three months, reflecting increased efforts by the Kurdistan Region to improve relations with Tehran following a period of tensions marked by missile and drone attacks by Iran and its allied militias over the past few years.
Despite improved relations between Iraq and Iran under Prime Minister Al-Sudani’s administration, several contentious issues remain, particularly regarding natural gas exports from Iran and continued attacks by pro-Iran militia groups on U.S. troops and interests in Iraq and Syria. These issues have placed Al-Sudani’s government in a challenging position in dealing with Washington. Al-Sudani heads a governing coalition that is dominated by pro-Iran Shia forces.