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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani’s visit to Iran in May played a large role in strengthening bilateral ties between Tehran and Erbil, Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad told Rudaw on Wednesday.
President Barzani arrived in Tehran on May 6 and met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, late President Ebrahim Raisi, and late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
The trip was aimed at reassuring Erbil’s allies that the Kurdistan Region will not become a source of threat to the interests of its neighbors, especially Iran, according to Kurdistan Region presidency spokesperson Dilshad Shahab.
“It [The visit] had a major and direct role in returning the relationship to its normal form, and the evidence of this is the exchange of visits and the presence of delegations between the two countries, and on top of that is the visit of the [acting] Foreign Minister [Ali Bagheri Kani] to the Kurdistan Region,” Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadeq, Iran's ambassador to Baghdad, told Rudaw's Anmar Ghazi.
Al-e Sadeq said that Iran and Iraq share strong political and cultural relations, but there is room to further develop economic ties.
“There are many issues that matter to both countries. In the political field, the level of relationship is high, as well as in the cultural field, but in the economic field we need more development. And similar to Baghdad at the center, the Kurdistan Region has a role in securing a large part of the economic dimension in the relationship between the two countries,” he added.
Iran’s acting foreign minister Bagheri on Thursday arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad for a two-day trip, during which he is also set to visit the Kurdistan Region and discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties.
He is scheduled to visit Erbil and Sulaimani and meet with President Barzani, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani, and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani.
Iran and Iraq have shared a strong relationship since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Tehran has since increased its influence over Baghdad, and the country has dozens of armed groups who are affiliated to the Shiite rule in Tehran.
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