Iran's Pezeshkian seeks to cement ties in Iraq on his first trip abroad as president

euronews (in English)

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, sworn in last July, has made his first official visit abroad to Iraq, seeking to bolster ties amid growing regional tensions.

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00:00Iran's reformist President Massoud Pazeshkian kicked off his first trip abroad as president

00:07with a visit to Iraq, hoping to tighten ties between Baghdad and Tehran as regional tensions

00:14escalate.

00:16Tehran's relationship with Iraq is crucial for economic, political and religious reasons,

00:22with Iran's foreign minister telling local media Pazeshkian hoped to tighten security

00:27relations between the nations during his trip.

00:31Baghdad has been trying to balance its relationship with both Iran and the US.

00:37Tehran backs powerful Shia militias in Iraq, while the US maintains a force of 2,500 troops

00:43that remain in battle with remnants of the Islamic State group in the country.

00:48The American troops are both a literal and rhetoric target for Iran, particularly as

00:53Israel's nearly year-old war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip grinds on.

00:59Pazeshkian is also due to visit shrines, a railroad project in southern Iraq and the

01:04capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region.

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