Pezeshkian Travels to Baghdad at the Invitation of the Iraqi Prime Minister

Iranian state media reports that Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Iraq on Wednesday, September 12, marking his first foreign trip as President. The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) announced this on Sunday, September 10, stating that Mr. Pezeshkian is set to visit Baghdad with a high-ranking Iranian delegation to meet with senior Iraqi officials. According to Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadeq, Iran's ambassador in Baghdad, this trip is at the invitation of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani. Al-Sadeq also mentioned, without providing details, that the two countries are expected to sign memorandums of understanding regarding cooperation and security during this visit; agreements that were supposed to be signed earlier during the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi and during his planned visit to Iraq. Iraq imports gas and electricity from Iran, but due to U.S. sanctions, it has long been unable to pay Iran. An Iraqi Chamber of Commerce official confirmed that Iran has $11 billion in blocked funds in the country. The Vice President of the Iraqi Chamber of Commerce confirmed earlier this year that Iran has $11 billion in blocked funds in Iraq. Iranian officials had previously stated that Iraq owes between $9 to $11 billion for the purchase of gas and electricity from the Islamic Republic. The money for Iran's electricity and gas exports to Iraq is deposited in the account of the National Iranian Oil Company at the Trade Bank of Iraq in dinars, and until last summer, the Islamic Republic was only allowed to use these resources to purchase non-sanctioned goods from Iraq itself; however, based on U.S. exemptions in July 2023, Iran can also use these resources for importing humanitarian goods from other countries. Additionally, the two countries previously signed a security agreement during Ali Shamkhani's visit, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic, to Iraq in March 2023, which aimed to end the activities of Iranian opposition groups in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Relations between Iran and Iraq, both with a Shiite majority population, have grown closer over the past two decades, and Iran is one of Iraq's largest trading partners. The Islamic Republic of Iran also has significant political influence in Iraq, with Tehran's allies dominating the current parliament and government in Baghdad. However, many offices and bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties are located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In March 2023, Iran and Iraq signed a security agreement that gave Iraq until September 19, 2023, to disarm Iranian Kurdish parties based in the Kurdistan region and close their military camps. A few months after signing this agreement, Iran carried out a deadly attack on the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, claiming to target a site used by 'Israeli spies.' Tehran accuses these Kurdish groups of importing weapons from Iraq and inciting the protests of 2021 in Iran, which began after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a Kurdish Iranian girl in custody of the morality police. Investigative efforts by Radio Farda reporters from informed sources in September 2023 revealed that many bases of Kurdish opposition parties against the Islamic Republic in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have been evacuated. However, in late July of this year, Iran's judiciary presented a list to the Iraqi government, including about 120 leaders and members of Kurdish opposition parties based in the Kurdistan region, requesting their extradition. According to Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's Deputy for International Affairs in the Judiciary, the individuals on this list are 'terrorists' who will soon be tried. One of the individuals handed over to Iranian security agencies about a week ago is Behzad Khosravi, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, residing in Sulaymaniyah. The news of his arrest and handover to Iranian authorities was announced on September 7 by two members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in an interview with Radio Farda. These two individuals, who wished to remain anonymous, told Radio Farda that Behzad Khosravi was arrested about a week earlier by the security forces of the region. However, the 'Asayish' security organization in Iraqi Kurdistan, formed by the two parties of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, stated that Behzad Khosravi was arrested due to not having residency in the Kurdistan region and had not engaged in 'political activity.'