TEHRAN: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday in his first visit abroad since taking power, Iranian state television reported.
Kadhemi, who was greeted by officials at Mehrabad airport, is expected to meet President Hassan Rouhani and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among other senior officials.
His delegation includes Iraq’s ministers of foreign affairs, finance, health and planning, as well as his national security adviser, the broadcaster said.
The Iraqi premier had been scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia as his first trip abroad, then quickly follow it up with a trip to Tehran in a carefully calibrated balancing act between the two regional rivals.
However the Saudi leg of his trip was postponed after King Salman was hospitalized on Monday.
Baghdad has often found itself caught in the tug-of-war between Riyadh, Tehran and even Washington, which Kadhemi is also set to visit within the next few weeks.
Kadhemi rose to the premiership in May after serving as the head of Iraq’s National Intelligence Service for nearly four years.
He formed close ties to Tehran, Washington and Riyadh during that time, prompting speculation he could serve as a rare mediator among the capitals.
The prime minister’s trip to Tehran comes after receiving Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif in Baghdad on Sunday.
Iraqi PM arrives in Tehran in first trip abroad
https://arab.news/ndw89
Iraqi PM arrives in Tehran in first trip abroad
- Kadhemi is expected to meet President Hassan Rouhani and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- The prime minister’s trip to Tehran comes after receiving Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif in Baghdad on Sunday
Israel agrees to ‘limited reopening’ of Rafah crossing: PM’s office
- The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it would allow a “limited reopening” of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt once it had recovered the remains of the last hostage in the Palestinian territory.
The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza.
Reopening Rafah forms part of a Gaza truce framework announced by US President Donald Trump in October, but the crossing has remained closed after Israeli forces took control of it during the war.
The Israeli military also said it was searching a cemetery in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, a non-commissioned officer in the police’s elite Yassam unit.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the reopening would depend on “the return of all living hostages and a 100 percent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said on X.
It said Israel’s military was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” Gvili’s body.
“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,” it said.
