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Iraq Doesn't Expect Major Changes with Pezeshkian’s Election as Iran’s President

A man holds up a poster of Iran's newly-elected president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)
A man holds up a poster of Iran's newly-elected president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)
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Iraq Doesn't Expect Major Changes with Pezeshkian’s Election as Iran’s President

A man holds up a poster of Iran's newly-elected president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)
A man holds up a poster of Iran's newly-elected president Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on July 6, 2024. (AFP)

Iraq welcomed on Saturday the election of reformist Masoud Pezeshkian as president of Iran.

Officials congratulated him on his victory, calling for bolstering relations. Meanwhile, experts predicted little change in Iran’s policy towards Iraq given the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) influence over the file.

Pezeshkian won the runoff election on Saturday, defeating ultraconservative Saeed Jalili.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani congratulated Pezeshkian on his win, wishing him success and stressing the depth of relations between their countries.

He called for maintaining coordination at the highest levels in all fields to serve common interests.

Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid congratulated Iran on the success of the elections and Pezeshkian on his victory. He stressed his keenness on boosting ties with Tehran.

President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani offered his congratulations, saying he was looking forward to developing “the old friendship and continuing joint cooperation with Iran based on joint interests and the principle of good neighborliness.”

Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani described Iran as an important neighbor to the Region and Iraq. He also said Erbil was keen on deepening relations with it.

Sudani’s advisor for international affairs Farhad Alaaldin said Pezeshkian’s time in office will be a “natural extension of the presidency of late President Ebrahim Raisi.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said Iraq looks to the “constants” in relations with Iran regardless of the people in power.

Raisi was planning on visiting Baghdad before he died. Iraq is now looking forward to Pezeshkian continuing what his predecessor was working on, he went on to say.

Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei has advised Pezeshkian to follow in Raisi’s footsteps.

Head of the Waey movement Salah al-Arbawi said the victory of a reformist candidate will lead to little change in policy in Iran. However, the election of a Republican American president, with a history with Iran, will lead to several changes in the region, he added in reference to Donald Trump.

Iraq is greatly affected by regional and international developments, he told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The rise of reformists in Iran and Trump’s expected victory is a double-edged sword.”

He added that Iraq does not have a full control over its “sovereign decision-making" and it is usually vulnerable to developments between Iran and the US, which demanded that authorities maintain a policy of disassociation.

Political science professor at the Al-Nahrain University Yassine Bakri said Iran’s foreign policy is shaped by several circles, but Khamenei ultimately has the final say, especially in strategic issues.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the IRGC primarily handles Iraqi affairs. The IRGC works a lot closer to Khamenei than the foreign ministry and president.

So, it doesn’t really matter whether a reformist or hardliner wins the presidency in Iran, he explained.

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UNRWA Says ‘Growing Concerns’ Annexation behind Israeli West Bank Operation

An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
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UNRWA Says ‘Growing Concerns’ Annexation behind Israeli West Bank Operation

An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)

A major offensive in the occupied West Bank which over several weeks has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians and ravaged refugee camps increasingly appears to be part of Israel's "vision of annexation", a UN official told AFP.

Israeli forces carry out regular raids targeting gunmen in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, but the ongoing operation since late January is already the longest in two decades, with dire effects on Palestinians.

"It's an unprecedented situation, both from a humanitarian and wider political perspective," said Roland Friedrich, director of West Bank affairs for UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees.

"We talk about 40,000 people that have been forcibly displaced from their homes" in the northern West Bank, mainly from three refugee camps where the operation had begun, said Friedrich.

"These camps are now largely empty," their residents unable to return and struggling to find shelter elsewhere, he said.

Inside the camps, the level of destruction to "electricity, sewage and water, but also private houses" was "very concerning", Friedrich added.

The Israeli operation, which the military says targets gunmen in the northern West Bank, was launched shortly after a truce took hold in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a separate Palestinian territory.

The operation initially focused on Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, where UNRWA operates, but has since expanded to more areas of the West Bank's north.

Friedrich warned that as the offensive drags on, there are increasing signs -- some backed by official Israeli statements -- that it could morph into permanent military presence in Palestinian cities.

"There are growing concerns that the reality being created on the ground aligns with the vision of annexation of the West Bank," he said.

- 'Political operation' -

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said troops would remain for many months in the evacuated camps to "prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism".

And Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who lives in one of dozens of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, has said that Israel would be "applying sovereignty" over parts of the territory in 2025.

According to Friedrich, "the statements we are hearing indicate that this is a political operation. It is clearly being said that people will not be allowed to return."

Last year the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying that Israel's prolonged presence in the West Bank was unlawful.

Away from home, the displaced Palestinian residents also grapple with a worsening financial burden.

"There is an increasing demand now, especially in Jenin, for public shelter, because people can't pay these amounts for rent anymore," said Friedrich.

"Everyone wants to go back to the camps."

The UN official provided examples he said pointed to plans for long-term Israeli presence inside Palestinian cities, which should be under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"In Tulkarem you have more and more reports about the army just walking around... asking shop owners to keep the shops open, going out and issuing traffic tickets to cars, so almost as if there is no Palestinian Authority," said Friedrich.

"It is very worrying, including for the future of the PA as such and the investments made by the international community into building Palestinian institutions."

The Ramallah-based PA was created in the 1990s as a temporary government that would pave the way to a future sovereign state.

- 'Radicalization' -

UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency for Palestinians, but a recent law bars the agency from working with the Israeli authorities, hindering its badly needed operations.

"It's much more complicated for us now because we can't speak directly to the military anymore," said Friedrich.

"But at the same time, we continue to do our work," he said, assessing needs and coordinating "the actual emergency response on the ground".

Israeli lawmakers had passed the legislation against UNRWA's work over accusations that it had provided cover for Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip -- claims the UN and many donor governments dispute.

The prolonged Israeli operation could have long-term consequences for residents, particularly children traumatized by the experience of displacement, Friedrich warned.

"If people can't go back to the camp and we can't reopen the schools... clearly, that will lead to more radicalization going forward."

He said the situation could compound a legitimacy crisis for the PA, often criticized by armed Palestinian factions for coordinating security matters with Israel.

Displaced Palestinians "feel that they are kicked out of their homes and that nobody is supporting them", said Friedrich.

A "stronger international response" was needed, he added, "both to provide humanitarian aid on the ground, and secondly, to ensure that the situation in the West Bank doesn't spin out of control".