Iran’s President Pezeshkian Visits Iraq, Kurdistan

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Iraq on his first foreign trip, signaling the clerical establishment's intention to strengthen ties with a strategic ally of both Tehran and Washington as regional tensions rise.

Pezeshkian met with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid at the Presidential palace in the capital, Baghdad.

He also met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Iraq and Iran are to activate security agreements between both countries, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said during his first foreign trip to Iraq.

The security pacts will contribute to regional stability, Pezeshkian added, at a joint press conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

“We agreed on forming a team of experts from both countries to set long-term strategic plans to establish wider cooperation between both countries and make use of available opportunities. To achieve this aim we need to fully activate security agreements between both countries to deter terrorists and enemies that target or want to target security and stability in the region,” he added.

Pezeshkian is on a three-day visit that Tehran and Baghdad said would include the signing of a number of agreements and discussion of the Gaza war and the situation in the Middle East.

Also Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Nechirvan Barzani have held talks in Erbil on key bilateral issues.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Pezeshkian arrived in Kurdistan's capital on the second day of his three-day visit to Iraq and was welcomed by Barzani upon his arrival.

This is the first official visit to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region by an Iranian president since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Pezeshkian has earlier hailed good relations between Tehran and the Kurdistan Region and vowed to make efforts to further improve mutual ties.