Iraqi Foreign Minister’s Special Mission in Tehran

Alwaght- Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, in an unannounced visit, arrived on in Iranian capital on Monday. The goals of this short trip have not been publicized, but it seems to be related to Baghdad-facilitated de-escalation talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, formation of a new government in Iraq and the increasing conflict between Syrian resistance groups and the US occupying forces. Commenting on the trip, Ahmad al-Sahaf, the spokesman of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he two sides will discuss regional developments, relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf countries, Iran's nuclear talks.

Iraq's role in restoring Iran-Saudi relations

The Iraqi Foreign Minister's visit to Iran came at a time when Kuwait and the UAE have recently reinstated their ambassadors to Tehran after about 7 years. This event took place after constructive talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and indication of possible meeting between the two rivals' foreign ministers.

In the meantime, the Iraqi government has played an important role in advancing the negotiations by mediating and hosting between Iranian and Saudi officials. Since April 2021, Baghdad has hosted five rounds of negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which were held at the lower level of the diplomatic mission and with the presence of the security and intelligence officials of the two countries.

Regarding Iraq's geographical location and historical, political, social and economic characteristics, Baghdad officials consider calm and stable region beneficial to their country.

It seems that Fuad Hossein's recent trip seeks to tackle the remaining obstacles in the path of reviving the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. On July 23, Iraq announced that it was ready to host a "public" meeting betweenthe foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia at the request of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

In this regard, Abolfazl Amoui, the spokesman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament, said: Executive measures have been taken to hold negotiations to restore bilateral relations and permanently reopen embassies.

Conflict between resistance groups and Occupying American forces in Syria

Discussing regional developments was one of the topics of Fuad Hossein's talks in Tehran. One of the issues that could have made the Iraqi foreign minister go to Iran was escalation of conflicts between American forces and resistance groups in eastern Syria.

For a long time, the White House has been putting pressure on Mustafa al-Kadhimi's government for more control over Iraq's borders with Syria, because this area and the Bokmal-Qaim crossing have become a strategic highway connecting the axis of resistance.

In the past months, US Central Command forces (CENTCOM) have carried out numerous airstrikes in this area in order to cut off this path and weaken the resistance groups, which are present in the border areas of Iraq and Syria to fight terrorism.

The US President Joe Biden recently announced that he had ordered attacks against facilities of the resistance groups in Syria in response to drone attacks against US forces in the region. Before this, the US-led coalition reported on August 15 about an attack on its al-Tanaf base.

Syrian media, citing local sources, also reported that two bases housing occupying American forces were targeted in southern Syria. One base is near al-Omar oil field, which is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and another military base is near Conoco natural gas fields in Deir ez-Zor province.

Both bases host US-led coalition forces and have been repeatedly attacked by unknown drones and missiles from the west side of the Euphrates in recent years.

In such a situation, it seems possible that Americans wanted Iraqi officials to urge Iran to prevent its allied resistance forces from escalating tensions with American Forces.