{"id":9086,"date":"2021-05-25T18:11:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=9086"},"modified":"2021-05-27T14:36:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T11:36:54","slug":"zarifs-recent-visit-to-iraq-and-irans-underlying-interests-in-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/reports\/zarifs-recent-visit-to-iraq-and-irans-underlying-interests-in-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Zarif\u2019s Recent Visit to Iraq and Iran\u2019s Underlying Interests in the Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently visited<\/a> Baghdad during the second leg of his regional tour and met Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi, President Barham Salih, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and several other Iraqi political leaders<\/a> to discuss bilateral issues. Zarif\u2019s recent visit comes amid important regional<\/a> and domestic developments  and Iran\u2019s ongoing  efforts to influence  Iraq\u2019s political and security<\/a> conditions  through its militias and political proxies.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s recent actions indicate its desire to uphold  its influence in Iraq especially as Baghdad is seeking  to diversify its economic t<\/a>ies and investment opportunities<\/a> with other regional countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Iraq has been dependent on Iran for several items that are critical for developing its industry and infrastructure, and this has limited its  economic prospects because of tight US sanctions on Tehran. Last year, Iran slashed<\/a> gas exports to Iraq citing unpaid bills  which resulted in  major cities like Baghdad facing  power shortages. The Kazemi government has taken certain measures to limit Tehran\u2019s influence and interference  in the country.  Kazemi has been eager to  impose the writ of the state in order to control  Iranian-backed militias and clamp down<\/a> on their rampant aggression<\/a>.   Last year, upon strict orders from Kazemi, Iran\u2019s Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani had to obtain an official visa<\/a> from Iraq\u2019s Foreign Ministry prior to visiting  Baghdad.  This was unprecedented as Iranian commanders  have frequently visited Iraq without obtaining an official visa. Several Iraqi politicians<\/a> resent  Iran\u2019s interference and the new Iraqi moves  are largely seen as an Iraqi attempt  to push back against  Iran\u2019s  mischievous involvement in Iraq\u2019s domestic affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s evolving approach towards the  developments  inside Iraq reflects how Tehran intends to counter  US influence and exploit the country\u2019s instability.   US-Iran tensions intensified after the killing<\/a> of General Qassem Soleimani last year and Iranian-backed militias have repeatedly  called on the United States to withdraw its  remaining 2,500 troops in Iraq for rocket attacks to cease.  Last year, Iraq\u2019s Parliament voted<\/a> 170-0 to expel  US troops in Iraq with the help of Shiite majority political blocs like the Fateh Alliance and the State of Law Coalition. Iran\u2019s Quds  Force and the IRGC have played  an active role in supporting  local militias which have impeded the process of  restoring security in the country.  Iran continues<\/a> to support its  proxies in Iraq and several reports<\/a>  indicate that Iran<\/a> has supplied ballistic missiles and weapons to groups  like the Popular Mobilization Forces<\/a> (PMF), Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah, and Saraya al-Jihad. Furthermore, earlier this year, pro-Iranian militias drove openly in central Baghdad denouncing the US presence in Iraq and  threatened <\/a> to cut off the Iraqi prime minister\u2019s ear. Responding to the open threat, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi asked<\/a> Iran to rein in its militias in  the country and warned that he would \u201cannounce clearly who backs these groups.\u201d  On the one hand, Iran is trying to present a responsible regional approach by participating in the Vienna talks,  while on the other hand it continues to support its proxies  in Iraq to attack<\/a>  US troops.   Against this backdrop, Zarif\u2019s visit aimed to secure  Iran\u2019s interests rather than pave the  way for serious political reform and put an end to Iraq\u2019s internal instability.  Pro-Iranian  political blocs like the State of Law Coalition and the Fateh Alliance<\/a> opposed<\/a> the national dialogue initiated by Kazemi which intended to  unite rival factions in  Iraq\u2019s Parliament in order to achieve common understandings on how to stabilize the government, national institutions and the country. The Fateh Alliance said,<\/a> \u201cit is useless to hold a national dialogue before achieving full sovereignty and the exit of foreign forces.\u201d Iran now faces a serious challenge from the Kazemi government which looks to develop more balanced relationships with  all regional powers and the West, unlike previous Iraqi governments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The October Revolution<\/a> had shaken  Iran\u2019s influence in Iraq and  pro-Iranian political blocs  now face several challenges amid strong anti-Iranian sentiments<\/a> that were evident throughout the long haul of protests in Iraq. Since Iran understands that it is difficult to achieve a favorable political outcome in Iraq considering  the present circumstances,  it will   likely continue to push  its proxies  in the country  to threaten  domestic security and use its political clout to ensure political crises and deadlocks continue to taint the country\u2019s political landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently visited Baghdad during the second leg of his regional tour and met Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi, President Barham Salih, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and several other Iraqi political leaders to discuss bilateral issues. Zarif\u2019s recent visit comes amid important regional and domestic developments and Iran\u2019s ongoing efforts to influence Iraq\u2019s political and security conditions through its militias and political proxies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5801,12,351],"class_list":["post-9086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-country","tag-iran","tag-iraq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9086"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9090,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9086\/revisions\/9090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}