Iran’s relationship with Iraq and its implications

President Masoud Pezeshkian’s first foreign visit to Iraq to discuss the most pressing issues of the region beside security, border and economic cooperation shows the significance of the Arab country in Iran's foreign policy.  

The visit comes in the wake of a recent agreement between the Iraqi government and the United States, obliging the Americans to pull out their forces from Iraq by September 2025.

Years of occupation by the US have taught Iraq that Iran is the only country to rely on in difficult times. When the world’s most macabre terrorists of Daesh reached within a stone’s throw of Baghdad’s gates in 2014, the Americans left the Iraqi capital to its fate while Iran rushed in time to save the city from sack.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani’s welcome of President Pezeshkian on Wednesday summed up everything. He gifted the Iranian president with a plaque on which these words from Imam Ali (AS) appeared, “People are of two kinds: they are either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity.”

The United States is strongly averse to Iraq’s close relationship with Iran, pressuring the country to wean itself off Iranian natural gas which generates nearly half of Iraq’s electricity, and cut any semblance of connection.

Iraq also imports a wide variety of products from Iran ranging from food to agricultural commodities, home appliances, air conditioners and car parts.

Years of war and US occupation have left Iraq’s various infrastructures in shambles. Iraqi leaders have said the Americans acknowledge neither Iraq’s needs nor special relations between Baghdad and Tehran.

Since 2003, Iraq is required to send all its oil revenues to a single US bank account. With more than $100 billion in reserves held in the US, Iraq is heavily reliant on Washington's goodwill to ensure oil revenues and finances do not face American censure.

But Washington is already weaponizing Baghdad's own dollars against Iraq, by devaluing its currency and hindering payments including debts to Iran from imports of gas and other commodities.

The status quo is not tenable, however. It is set to undergo a dynamic transformation with the withdrawal of US troops when Iraqis will need Iran's help to preserve security.

Meanwhile, the future of Iran-Iraq relations is bright. The conditions, requirements, and capacities of the two countries and the general atmosphere prevailing in Iraq and the region, as well as Iraq’s financial resources signal promising days ahead.

The cultural and religious affinity of Iraqis and Iranians who share a common history and somehow close and common language where their bordering cities speak Arabic and Kurdish all provides an exceptional opportunity to promote their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis visit Iran for pilgrimage, medical treatment and sight-seeing while millions of Iranians travel to Iraq for the annual Arba’een march, indicating exceptional cultural bondage between the two countries.

The Iran-Iraq border is also their longest, which they can use to develop cultural and economic relations and boost trade, transportation and tourism at the lowest cost.

Laden with sizable financial resources, Iraq direly needs to reconstruct its infrastructures in water, electricity, health and transportation. Iranian companies with expertise in construction, architecture, transportation, and technical-engineering services are best placed to rise to the occasion.

In fact, the Iraqi market is an exceptional opportunity for the public and private sector of Iran, but there is need for proper vision, planning and strategy to enter it, where other regional countries such Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar as well as those outside the region such as the US, China, India and the Europeans are jockeying for position.

Any planning should be based on a long-term vision in order to build a bright and sustainable future.

The implications are not merely economic. The results of close Iran-Iraq relations will also be reflected in national security and international relations.

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