Iran and Iraq sign more than a dozen agreements to improve cooperation

September 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Iranian and Iraqi authorities signed a total of 14 agreements on Wednesday to improve cooperation in economic, cultural and religious matters, among other issues, at the start of Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian’s visit to the country, the first official trip the president has made since taking office.

The document, signed by Iranian and Iraqi ministers and senior officials, was signed in the presence of Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, according to reports from the Iraqi president’s office.

With these documents, the leaders seek to deepen their relationship in a number of sectors, including security, trade and labour issues. Pezeshkian, who is also scheduled to meet his Iraqi counterpart, Abdulatif Rashid, described the visit as the “beginning of an era of greater collaboration.”

Sources close to the matter told Iran’s IRNA news agency that one of the documents, however, has not been signed, although they did not provide details about its content.

Iranian officials have said that Pezeshkian’s agenda also includes visits to the Shiite mausoleums of Karbala and Najaf, two of the most important for this branch of Islam, as well as visits to Basra and Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. This last visit would be the first in history to be made by an Iranian president.

Pezeshkian himself had already said before leaving for Iraq that “the trip is aimed at creating and deepening economic, cultural, political and security ties with Islamic countries, starting with Iraq.” “This will be good and effective in eliminating the many problems that exist,” he said earlier.

Although Tehran has continued to expand its influence in Iraq in recent years, tensions between the countries remain high, particularly over the presence of US troops on Iraqi soil, an issue harshly criticised by Tehran.

Iran considers Iraq an important economic partner and a “gateway to the Arab world”, while Tehran remains a major supplier of gas and electricity to the Iraqi government.