Iran’s President Pezeshkian to visit Iraq on first foreign trip

BAGHDAD – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to visit Iraq for official meetings with Iraqi officials in Baghdad in September. This will be President Pezeshkian’s first foreign visit since taking office.

Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq, Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadeq, told the IRNA news agency, “President Pezeshkian will travel to Baghdad at the head of a high-level delegation at the official invitation of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani.”

Several agreements and memorandums of understanding are expected to be signed during the visit, following discussions initiated during the previous visit of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Iraq, Al-Sadeq added.

Former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May 2024 near the Azerbaijan border.

The ambassador did not specify whether President Pezeshkian would visit the Kurdistan Region during his trip.

Iran’s political influence in Iraq has grown considerably since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The subsequent power vacuum allowed Iran to establish strong ties with various Iraqi political groups, particularly those aligned with the Shia Muslim community, which constitutes the majority in Iraq.

Iran’s influence also extends through its support for various armed groups operating in Iraq, most notably those within the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is an umbrella organization of mainly Shia militias that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces in 2016.