Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday extended an invitation to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani to visit Tehran in an effort to reduce political and military tension between the two countries over Iranian bombings against Kurdish positions in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Iraqi government has confirmed that Prime Minister Al Sudani, has met with the Iranian ambassador, Mohamad Kazem Ale Sadeq, in a meeting during which both sides «stressed the importance of continuing to hold meetings between Iraq and Iran in the security sector in a manner that preserves the sovereignty of the two countries.»
During the meeting, the two sides also discussed «issues of common interest in the investment and economic fields,» and the ambassador extended to the prime minister the Iranian president’s invitation, on which Iraq has not yet made a decision, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office carried by Rudaw Agency.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard deployed on Friday armored units and infantry on the border with Iraqi Kurdistan after denouncing «suspicious movements» of «Kurdish opposition» groups, less than 24 hours after Baghdad announced its own military movements in response to attacks by Iran and Turkey against positions of these groups in the region.
Iran has been launching this series of cross-border missile and drone strikes on Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups for weeks, blaming them for stoking protests at home over the death in custody of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, allegedly for wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf incorrectly.
