Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian has landed in Iraq on his first state trip abroad, in a bid to boost ties amid tightening Western sanctions.
Pezeshkian, who was elected in July, started his three-day visit as he met Iraqi Prime Minister, Shia al-Sudani on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
The Iranian President visited a monument to Qassem Soleimani, the former Head of Iran‘s elite Quds Force who was killed in a 2020 attack by the United States in Baghdad.
The Quds Force is a part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
High on Pezeshkian’s agenda will be Israel’s war on Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups around the region and complicated Iraq’s relations with the US.
According to the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office, Iran and Iraq expect to sign numerous agreements on trade, agriculture and communications during Pezeshkian’s visit.
Iraqi Political Scientist, Ali al-Baidar, noted that Iran needs “the Iraqi market for its exports, just as it needs Iraq’s energy imports.”
Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi disclosed that there would be about 15 new memorandums, including ones regarding security and politics.
The planned accords are part a push to shore up Iran’s ties with neighbouring countries to ease the blow of US-led sanctions on its economy.
Iran is one of Iraq’s leading trade partners, with non-oil trade between the two countries at more than $5bn in the past five months, according to Iranian media.
Araghchi Condemns Arms Delivery Allegations
Also on Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, pushed back against allegations by Western countries that Iran has supplied short-range missiles to Russia.
Iran faces new sanctions from the US and several European countries accusing it of supplying Russia with short-range missiles for use against Ukraine.
“Once again, US and E3 act on faulty intelligence and flawed logic,” Araghchi said in a post on X.
“Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. Period,” he wrote, adding, “Sanction addicts should ask themselves: how is Iran able to make & supposedly sell sophisticated arms?”
“Sanctions are NOT a solution, but part of problem,” he stressed.
Iran is already one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, and some experts have questioned the impact of more economic penalties that might hurt the country’s middle classes more than its leaders.
Iran pledged to respond to new sanctions imposed by a trio of European states.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, in a statement, reiterated Iran’s denial that it has supplied the weapons and called the sanctions announced by Britain, France and Germany “economic terrorism” against the people of Iran.
He pledged that the three European countries would face “appropriate and proportionate action.”
France, Germany and the United Kingdom announced the sanctions earlier the same day after the United States formally accused Iran of supplying the weapons to Moscow.
The measures revoke bilateral deals for providing air services to Iran and impose sanctions on flag carrier Iran Air that will restrict its ability to fly to Europe.
“In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia,” the three European states said.
“Any claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran has sold ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation is completely baseless and false,” Kanaani said.
Posting on X, Kanaani said that reports on the alleged transfers were “ugly propaganda” used to conceal “large illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in Gaza.”
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