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Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi and the Iraqi Minister of Culture Faryad Rawanduzi held talks on a range of issues, including ways to boost relations between the two neighbors in culture and tourism.

In the meeting held in Baghdad on Tuesday, the Iraqi minister hailed the relationship between Tehran and Baghdad as deep-rooted and stressed the need to promote ties in various areas, including culture, tourism, cinema and arts, the Arabic-language Al-Iraqiya TV reported.

The Iranian diplomat, for his part, emphasized that Iraq is a country with numerous cultural, political and scientific figures and needs no foreign human resources.

He, however, noted that the Iraq needs to boost education and training in all fields.

Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the Daesh terrorist group.

Daesh militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.

However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces blunted the edge of Daesh offensive and later forced the Takfiri group to withdraw from most of the areas it had occupied.

Iran, meanwhile, is known as the first country to help Iraq in the face of terrorism and has always voiced support for Iraq’s solidarity and prosperity.

(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

By Adnan Abu Zeed for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. 

There are strong indications that Gulf states want to keep Iraq away from Iran's influence by including Iraq under the banner of a US-backed Sunni Arab alliance.

The United States sees Iraq as a vital location in need of a clear US policy, especially with the presence there of US military bases and about 8,500 US soldiers, as well as the US impact on the country's overall situation.

The most recent quest in this direction was the Arab Islamic American Summit held May 21 in Riyadh, attended by US President Donald Trump and Iraqi President Fuad Masum.

It also appears that Iraq’s participation in the Eager Lion maneuvers, an annual military exercise, launched May 7 in Jordan with the participation of more than 7,000 soldiers from over 20 countries, was part of the attempt to bring Iraq into the Sunni Arab axis.

The race to convince Iraq to abandon its well-known alliances with Iran and Iran's allies was already underway when Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Baghdad on Feb. 25, declaring that “Saudi Arabia and Iraq face the [same] scourge of terrorism."

This rhetoric reflects Riyadh’s keenness on overcoming the obstacles to developing its relations with Baghdad. Those relations took a bad turn when the Saudi ambassador to Iraq, Thamer al-Sabhan, was expelled from Iraq in August after the Iraqis took offense at his statements about the “Iranian intervention in Iraq” and “Iranian-backed armed Shiite organizations fueling the tension with Sunnis.”

Jubeir’s hopes of extracting Baghdad from Tehran’s grip were revived when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met March 20 with Trump in Washington.

By John Lee.

Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, has received a copy of the credentials of the new Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad, Iraj Masjedi.

The new Ambassador described the two countries as "friends and brothers", adding, “we should do our best to improve ties between the two countries.”

"Iran wants an advanced, powerful, secure and integrated Iraq and given this policy Iran will stand by Iraq under any condition," the Iranian ambassador said.

(Sources: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IRNA, Fars News)

By Zakiyeh Yazdanshenas for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iran Business News.

In June 2014, Mosul was seized by the Islamic State (IS), whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi soon afterward announced a caliphate from the city’s grand mosque. Now the caliphate is seemingly coming to an end.

Iraqi government forces took the eastern part of Mosul from IS on Jan. 24 after three months of fighting. On March 15, a spokesman for Iraq's Counterterrorism Service said 60% of the western part of Mosul is under the control of Iraqi security forces. The day before, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had said the operation is in its final stage, pledging the defeat of IS.

But military victory in Mosul is just the beginning of a more complicated phase for Iraq. Disparate forces have so far come together to pursue the common objective of expelling IS from Iraq. With the imminent achievement of this goal, many underlying and preceding power struggles will likely re-emerge.

Moreover, it should be borne in mind that various external powers — including Iran and the United States — have become greatly involved in Iraq’s security-related affairs and expanded their spheres of influence within the country since IS' 2014 onslaught.

One key question is who will step in to fill the power vacuum in post-IS Mosul. Will the United States revert to its previous retreat from the Middle East, or will it opt to reassure its regional allies by keeping at least a part of its current forces in Iraq? Will Iran seek to establish a presence in northern Iraq, either directly or through its allies?

After having withdrawn in late 2011, the United States has once again become militarily engaged in the country, deploying over 5,000 troops and special forces, and spending more than $10 billion on combating IS in Iraq and Syria.

By Omar al-Jaffal for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iran Business News.

Iran has reportedly appointed Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjedi as its new ambassador to Baghdad, replacing Hassan Dana’i Fer, according to Iranian media reports on Jan. 15.

Masjedi is a prominent leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and serves as an adviser to Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force. Masjedi confirmed the news himself in an official statement but did not say when he would officially assume his new position.

Saudi Minister of State for Gulf Affairs Thamer Sabhan, who served as the first Saudi ambassador in Iraq after 2003, attacked Masjedi on Jan.15, calling him “an internationally wanted war criminal.”

Faleh al-Fayyad, the national security adviser and head of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), was quick to reply on Jan. 22, saying, “Our relations with Iraq are not determined by other parties,” a jab at Saudi Arabia. Fayyad welcomed Masjedi as the new ambassador to Iraq and did not miss an opportunity to praise him, calling him “a brother.”

“We have good memories of Masjedi and his long history of supporting Iraq. There is no doubt that he will play an important role in improving relations and defending the interests of both countries,” Fayyad said.

Haidar al-Moul, a parliament member for the Shiite National Alliance, called, albeit reluctantly, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to vet Masjedi and to investigate whether he is a war criminal.

He classed Masjedi’s presence as part of Iran’s military expansion in Iraq. Many media outlets reported that Masjedi is working on strengthening the military and political presence of the PMU and other armed factions.

There is not much information available on Masjedi, who has been described by the Washington Institute as a "seasoned Quds Force operative." "What is clear is his reportedly deep involvement in Quds Force activities in Iraq over the past several years, many resulting in the death, injury or kidnapping of US and coalition personnel as well as the assassination of Iraqi provincial officials who did not see eye to eye with Tehran,” the article read.