Iraq’s Premier To Visit Iran And Saudi Arabia

Iraq's Shafaq News Agency quoted the source as saying that al-Kadhimi would visit Iran within 24 hours after participating in the Riyadh summit.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as Iraq’s parliamentary reconfiguration following the mass resignation of the Sadrist bloc will probably be on the agenda of the Iraqi premier’s visit. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia -- which are locked in proxy conflicts around the region -- have held several rounds of talks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad since 2021 to improve their ties, severed since 2016, with no major results so far.

On Thursday, Iraq's parliament swore in dozens of new lawmakers, enlarging the Iran-backed bloc in the assembly about two weeks after a group of 73 parliamentarians loyal to the powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr resigned on June 12 upon his order following eight months of stalemate over forming a new government.

Last week, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein criticized the Islamic Republic's interference in Iraq's internal affairs. He also said earlier this month that Baghdad had submitted a formal complaint to Iran for its aggressive behaviors toward Iraq and the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, and denied Iran's allegations that the Israeli Mossad is present in Erbil. 

In March, Iran fired missiles at Erbil, claiming it used 12 ballistic missiles in that attack and .