France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that Iraq should not be pulled into conflicts in a turbulent Middle East during his first visit to the country, which has suffered from decades of instability.
Jean-Noel Barrot will also visit Kuwait as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq, an ally to both Tehran and Washington, has been navigating a delicate balancing act not to be drawn into the fighting, after pro-Iran factions launched numerous attacks on US troops based in Iraq, as well as mostly failed attacks on Israel.
"It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose," Barrot said in a joint conference with his counterpart Fuad Hussein.
He praised the Iraqi government's efforts to "preserve the stability of the country."
"We are convinced that a strong and independent Iraq is a source of stability for the entire region, which is threatened today by the conflict that started on October 7, and Iran's destabilizing activities," Barrot said.
There have been no attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi factions for several months, while Iraq is now preparing to host an Arab League summit and the third edition of the Baghdad Conference on regional stability, which Paris has been co-organizing with Baghdad since 2021.
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy with Iran while engaging in talks over its nuclear program.
Fouad Hussein urged for successful talks "to spare the region from the danger of war," adding that "there are no alternatives to negotiations."
Barrot met Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad, and he is expected later in the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to meet with Kurdish leaders.
Sudani said he welcomed "an upcoming visit" of French President Emmanuel Macron to Iraq, which would be his third trip to the country.
Iraq and France have been strengthening their bilateral relations in several sectors, including energy and security.
France has deployed troops in Iraq as part of the US-led international coalition to fight the ISIS group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017, although some of its cells remain active.
Baghdad is now seeking to end the coalition's mission and replace it with bilateral military partnerships with the coalition's members, saying its own forces can lead the fight against the weakened militants.
"We cannot allow ten years of success against terrorism to be undermined," Barrot said, adding that France remains ready to contribute to the fighting.
Barrot's regional tour will also help "prepare for the international conference for the implementation of the two-state solution" that Paris will co-organize in June with Riyadh, the French foreign ministry said.
Macron said earlier this month that France planned to recognize a Palestinian state, possibly as early as June.
He said he hoped it would "trigger a series of other recognitions", including of Israel.
For decades, the formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.
