ERBIL, Kurdistan Region: President Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Region is set to visit Tehran on Sunday to hold meetings with the country’s top leaders, marking his fifth trip to Iran in the last ten years.
Among the prominent figures President Barzani is expected to meet with are Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with other high-ranking officials.
This visit follows closely after Barzani’s recent trip to Baghdad, where discussions focused on issues such as paying the salaries of Kurdistan Region’s civil servants and preparations for upcoming parliamentary elections.
President Barzani’s last visit to Iran was in August 2021, where he attended President Raisi’s inauguration ceremony.
Relations between the Kurdistan Region and Iran have generally been positive, with Barzani acknowledging Iran’s contribution to the economic prosperity of the Kurdistan Region during a forum in Sulaimani in April.
However, tensions have arisen due to Tehran’s military actions against exiled Kurdish groups and missile strikes on locations suspected to be Mossad bases in the Region.
In January, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ten ballistic missiles at what they claimed was a Mossad base in the family home of a Kurdish businessman, resulting in casualties including an 11-month-old baby.
President Barzani had emphasized days before the attack that the Kurdistan Region would not pose a threat to Iran, reiterating Erbil’s denial of the existence of Israeli bases within its borders.
