PM:06:54:19/03/2023
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SULAIMANI — Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani,
after high-stakes trips to Beijing and Abu Dhabi aimed at rebooting diplomatic
and security ties with Persian Gulf neighbors, is now slated to visit Baghdad.
Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National
Security Council (SNSC) that Shamkhani heads, in a report on Saturday (March
18) said the official will visit Iraq as part of his regional tour.
The report said, "maintaining and promoting more than $10
billion trade exchanges” with Iraq requires "solving some security challenges”
between Tehran and Baghdad as well as "speeding up the implementation of
economic agreements and smoothening banking cooperation.”
Shamkhani, the report added, is accompanied on his regional
diplomacy tour by the head of Iran’s central bank, the head of the foreign
intelligence unit in the intelligence ministry, and a deputy foreign minister
for the Persian Gulf region.
Another report on Saturday, citing an "informed source” in
the Iraqi government, said a key issue on the Iranian official’s agenda in Iraq
is to sign a memorandum of understanding on border security.
Shamkhani, the report stated, is expected to hold
consultations with Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish Regional
Government (KRG), and his Iraqi counterpart Qasim al-Araji during the visit.
He will also meet the Iraqi president, prime minister, and
parliament speaker among others.
Iran has often protested what it calls the presence of
"terrorist groups” in northern Iraq, with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) carrying out a series of drone and missile strikes late last year on
their positions in the region.
Iran also blamed the "terrorist groups" for
carrying out an attack on a military workshop in central Isfahan city in late
January, which it claimed was thwarted.
In November last year, while addressing a joint press
conference in Tehran with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, Iran’s
President Ebrahim Raisi described security in the region as a "common concern”
for both Tehran and Baghdad.
Iran has also repeatedly called for the ouster of American
forces from Iraq and other regional countries, saying their presence has a
"destabilizing effect on regional security.”
Shamkhani’s visit to Iraq comes weeks after US Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin made a surprise visit to Baghdad and announced that the
US military presence will continue in the Arab country.
- Rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, visit to UAE
The rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by
China last week after two years of negotiations in Iraq and Oman, is believed
to be a regional game changer.
The White House welcomed the thaw in Tehran-Riyadh relations
but with a hint of skepticism.
Shamkhani represented Iran in the talks hosted by China that
broke the diplomatic ice between Tehran and Riyadh seven years after they
severed ties.
Iran’s top security official also visited Abu Dhabi on
Thursday at the invitation of his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed
with the aim of reinvigorating bilateral ties.
The UAE and Iran restored their diplomatic ties last year,
six years after the latter recalled its ambassador to Tehran in solidarity with
its key regional ally Riyadh.
In a meeting with his Emirati counterpart on Thursday,
Shamkhani stressed that "cooperation and convergence” must replace "divergence
and hostility” in the Persian Gulf region.
He said the trip marks a "meaningful beginning” for the two
countries to "enter a new phase of political, economic and security relations.”
Speculation is rife that Iran is considering peace
agreements with other estranged Persian Gulf neighbors, including Bahrain and
Jordan, in the framework of Tehran-Saudi détente.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani in his
Monday presser hinted that Iran is ready to restore diplomatic ties with all
regional countries, without going into details.
(NRT Digital Media/AA)