Qalibaf's Baghdad visit: A test of Iran's regional influence

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.