ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that Tehran is seeking to advance its relations with Erbil and Baghdad and to “resolve all problems,” in his first foreign visit since taking office.
“The relationship with Erbil, with Kurdistan, and Iraq, we came here to strengthen them and to resolve all problems that have existed so far, God willing,” Pezeshkian told reporters in Kurdish alongside Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani.
Pezeshkian arrived in Erbil on Thursday and was received by President Barzani, after concluding a visit to Baghdad the previous day, when he met his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Latif Rashid and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani.
“We have historical, cultural, and linguistic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Iranian president’s visit to the Kurdistan Region is a historic event,” President Barzani told reporters, expressing Erbil’s desire to improve ties with Tehran.
In Erbil, Pezeshkian also met with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani. He also met with representatives of the Region’s political and religious leaders.
After his Erbil visit, Pezeshkian will travel to Sulaimani to meet with the leaders in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The Kurdistan Region and Iran enjoy good ties. During a forum in Sulaimani in April, President Barzani said that Iran has contributed to the economic “success” of the Kurdistan Region.
But the relationship has been strained in recent years by Tehran’s attacks inside Kurdistan Region’s borders on exiled Kurdish groups and deadly missile strikes on locations that it alleged were Mossad bases. Erbil has vehemently rejected the claims.
Iran and Iraq have shared a strong relationship since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Tehran has increased its influence over Baghdad, and the country has dozens of armed groups who are affiliated with the Shiite rule in Tehran.
Pezeshkian and Sudani on Wednesday oversaw the signing of 14 memoranda of understanding in several fields, including the economy, culture, and cooperation between chambers of commerce, according to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s office.
