Iraq – Salih receives Rouhani at the Peace Palace in Baghdad

Baghdad-Iraq 11/03/2019

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has arrived this morning in Baghdad on an official visit heading a governmental delegation, where he was welcomed by Iraqi president, Barham Salih. This visit, which is Rouhani’s first visit to Iraq since he was elected in 2013, comes as Baghdad faces pressure by the US to diminish its relations with Iran, especially in the field of energy imports. As stated by Rouhani, Iran and Iraq plan to raise their annual bilateral trade to $20 billion from the current level of $12 billion. Rouhani is scheduled to meet the three presidencies before heading to Najaf and Karbala to meet with cleric Ali al-Sistani.