Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf touched down in Baghdad Wednesday with a message: the region needs a "new order" free of foreign meddling.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf © Mena Today
Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf touched down in Baghdad Wednesday with a message: the region needs a "new order" free of foreign meddling.
The timing wasn't subtle, his visit lands just as Washington ramps up pressure on Iraq to dismantle powerful Tehran-backed armed factions.
Qalibaf framed his three-day trip as an effort "to strengthen the new order in the region and accelerate cooperation between all regional countries, without foreign interference." Standing near Baghdad airport, the site where a 2020 US strike killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi deputy Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, he added: "Resistance in Iraq is one of the pillars of this country's strength."
His itinerary includes meetings Wednesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and the Coordination Framework, the ruling coalition of Shiite parties with varying degrees of closeness to Tehran.
Iraq and Iran, both Shiite-majority nations sharing roughly 1,500 kilometers of border, maintain close political, religious and commercial ties.
Qalibaf's trip continues Thursday in Karbala for fortieth-day mourning ceremonies marking the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the opening US-Israeli strikes on February 28, before wrapping up Friday in Najaf.
Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said on Friday that three Saudi nationals were killed and several people were injured in two attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US will not launch an attack on Iran before November's US midterm congressional elections, asserting that the two countries are having "productive" talks about ending the six-month-old war.
Turkey is assessing how it can help Saudi Arabia defend against attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants under a joint defence pact with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, ruling out Turkish participation in offensive operations.
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