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.
Ali al-Taher, the strategic ridge overlooking Nabatieh, was the site of a fresh Israeli military operation Thursday evening, with the army saying it destroyed "more than two kilometers of Hezbollah underground infrastructure" beneath the height, located north of the Litani River, roughly 15 kilometers from the Israeli border.
The lightning Houthi advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast this week came with direct guidance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Iran's war with the U.S., according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called U.S. President Donald Trump twice on Thursday and urged him to launch strikes against the Houthis, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials.
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