Iran's Quds Force chief Qaani visits Iraq: senior official

Iranian commander Esmail Qaani arrived in Baghdad on Saturday to meet political leaders and representatives of armed factions and to discuss the Middle East war and its impact on Iraq, a senior Iraqi official told AFP.

Political deadlock over the nomination of Iraq’s next prime minister would also be on the agenda, the official said of Qaani’s first reported trip abroad since a US-Iran ceasefire began on April 8.

Qaani, whose visits to Iraq are rarely announced, heads the Quds Force, the foreign operations branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iraq has long walked a tightrope between the competing influences of its allies — neighbouring Iran and the United States — with Iraqi leaders struggling to maintain a delicate balance between the two foes.

Iraq was drawn into the Middle East war with strikes targeting Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed attacks on US interests, mostly in Iraq but also across the wider region.

The Iraqi official said Qaani was holding “meetings with Iraqi political leaders and a number of commanders of armed factions”, adding that the goal of the visit was to “address regional de-escalation and its impact on Iraq”.

Qaani “seeks to coordinate positions among Tehran’s allies in Iraq and to ensure that the security situation does not deteriorate during these sensitive times” in Iraq and the region, the official said.

A source from a powerful Tehran-backed faction and another two close to the Coordination Framework — a ruling alliance of Shia groups with varying ties to Iran — confirmed the visit.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

The visit is also part of Iranian “efforts to support the path of understanding between Iraqi parties and bridge their differences, especially amid ongoing disagreements over the government”, the Iraqi senior official said.

Iraqi leaders have been stuck in a political deadlock since January, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut support for Iraq when the Coordination Framework backed Nouri al-Maliki to become the country’s next prime minister.

Trump said he would end all support for Iraq if Maliki, a two-time former prime minister with close ties to Iran, returned to power.

Several political sources told AFP that the Coordination Framework will likely choose a new candidate soon.