Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to arrive in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday as part of a regional tour in anticipation of Israel’s retaliation to a missile attack by Tehran against it earlier this month.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Baghdad visit is part of the diplomatic consultations with regional countries.
There, he will meet with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein and several prominent officials for talks on bilateral relations and regional developments.
The visit will take place amid a debate between the Iraqi government and pro-Iran factions on whether the latter should take part in the “support front” launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.
Government officials have said that Baghdad has so far largely managed to rein in the factions.
Meanwhile, the so-called “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” announced on Saturday it had fired a drone at a vital Israeli target in the occupied Golan Heights.
It said the attack “champions our people in Palestine and Lebanon” and is in retaliation to the “massacres committed by” Israel against children, women and the elderly. It vowed to continue and escalate its attacks.
After his Baghdad stop, Araqchi will head to Cairo for talks on regional developments.
He is expected to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, chief of intelligence Abbas Kamel and FM Badr Abdelatty.
Media reports have said Araqchi will deliver a written message from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on efforts to restore calm in the region.
Sources had recently revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran delivered through European diplomatic channels the nature of its retaliation to the potential Israeli attack.
The message is primarily directed to Israel and says that it will overlook a limited Israeli strike and refrain from responding to it.
The danger lies in the second part of the message that warned that Iran will have no choice but to drop all red lines should the Israeli strike its oil or nuclear facilities.
