Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on a trip to Tehran on Tuesday that Iraq would not allow any aggression against Iran from its territory.
Speaking at a press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, al-Kadhimi alluded to Iraq’s concern not to become a battleground between arch-enemies Iran and the United States.
The Iraqi prime minister is facing a tough balancing act between Tehran and Washington, which have approached open conflict in the region, particularly on Iraqi soil, last year.
In his country, al-Kadhimi is facing increasing pressure from Iran-aligned groups that perceive him as a supporter of the United States, because he has indicated that he wants to curb the power of militias and Iranian-backed political parties.
“The people of Iraq want good relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of both countries,” he said at the press conference, broadcast live on Iranian state television.
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“Iraq is a country that will not allow any aggression or challenge to Iran from its territory.”
Balancing act
Al-Kadhimi ascended to the presidency in May after serving as head of Iraq’s National Intelligence Service for nearly four years. He formed close ties with Tehran, Washington and Riyadh during that time, sparking speculation that he could serve as a rare mediator between capitals.
In their first two months in office, the Iraqi security forces carried out two arrest raids against the militias, but most of the detainees were quickly released.
The United States praised those movements, and supporters welcome several appointments al-Kadhimi has made in the security forces, including the reinstatement of the head of the Iraq Counter-Terrorism Service, Abdul Wahhab al-Saadi, whose dismissal under the previous government. sparked anti-government riots last year.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Baghdad on Sunday, making a stop at the site where a US drone attack killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in January. .
That attack brought the region to the brink of conflict between the United States and Iran before both sides backed down.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a subsequent meeting with al-Kadhimi, praised the People’s Mobilization Forces, an institution controlled by the Iraqi state that is an umbrella group of militias, many backed by Iran.
Khamenei also said that Iran will not interfere in relations between Iraq and the United States, according to its official website.
However, the supreme leader promised that Iran “would strike a reciprocal blow” against the United States over Soleimani’s murder.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. [Official Khamenei Website via Reuters]
‘Heroes’
Rouhani hailed as his “heroes” his top Iranian general and Iraqi commander killed together in the US drone attack on Baghdad airport earlier this year.
“I consider it necessary to honor the two heroes of the fight against terrorism, the martyrs General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,” he said.
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Rouhani described them as “working for the security of Iraq in previous years,” a reference to Baghdad’s fight against the armed group, ISIL (ISIS).
Renad Mansour, principal investigator for Chatham House, said some Iranian officials believed al-Kadhimi may have played a role in the US drone killings as head of the national intelligence service.
“It was a very bad relationship at the time, but over the months Iran also felt with all the chaos that they needed someone, so a compromise was made, and Iran reluctantly had to accept and help facilitate their position “Mansour told Al Jazeera.
“Clearly, it is a very fragile relationship and the more it goes against Iranian interests in Iraq, whether it goes against its military allies or its economic practices, there will be many comings and goings.” say.”
‘Point of return’
Relations between the two countries were not always close: they waged a bloody war between 1980 and 1988. Tehran’s influence in Baghdad increased after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq toppled the government of Saddam Hussein.
Al-Kadhimi’s visit, his first overseas trip since he took office in May, was to take place after a trip to Saudi Arabia, but was canceled after the Saudi king was admitted to the hospital due to inflammation of the gallbladder.
Rouhani called the visit of the new Iraqi prime minister a “turning point” in the relations of the countries and promised to continue supporting the neighboring Arab nation.
The official website of the Iranian presidency office then posted a photo of Rouhani and al-Kadhimi at a welcoming ceremony in Tehran, showing both wearing protective masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
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“We are confident that the visit will be a turning point in relations between the two countries,” Rouhani said after meeting with the Iraqi leader. “We are still ready to support the Iraqi nation and apply efforts for stability and security in Iraq and the region.”
Al-Kadhimi said Iraq’s foreign policy is based on “balancing and avoiding any alignment.”
$ 20 billion trade
As a former Washington-backed intelligence chief, al-Kadhimi took office in May after he played a major role for years in the war against ISIL, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017.
Rouhani said Iran and Iraq hoped to boost bilateral trade to $ 20 billion annually.
Iran sees Iraq as a possible route to bypass the U.S. sanctions that President Donald Trump re-imposed on Tehran in 2018, after withdrawing the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Last year, Iran’s exports to Iraq totaled nearly $ 9 billion, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.
Under former dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq waged an eight-year war in the 1980s against Iran, a conflict that left nearly a million dead on both sides.
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