——<\/strong><\/p>\n\nPresident Barham Salih met his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He spoke of the importance of economic relations between the two countries as Iraq rebuilds after the war against Daesh.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe are carrying a clear and open message about the importance of social and economic relations with Iran, as we have close ties with the Iranian people,\u201d Salih said in Tehran. \u201cIraq today is looking to restore its reconstruction and stability, and this requires internal and external political initiatives and requires a stable regional environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSalih also spoke about a new regional system, in which Iraq would have a pivotal role, \u201cto overcome the current differences and focus on the bilateral interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIraq will continue its role as an arena to meet the interests of the peoples of the region, not as a battlefield for the conflicted wills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nIraq has been a battlegrount between the US and Iran since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSince elections in May, political factions divided roughly into pro and anti Iran camps, have been locked in a bitter struggle for control of a new government.<\/p>\n
\nMany in Iraq feel Iran has too heavy a hand in the country, where it controls powerful Shiite armed factions.<\/p>\n
\nThe two sides also discussed \u201cthe environmental problems\u201d related to the Shatt Al-Arab waterway that divides the countries in the south, establishing joint industrial areas on the border, and the possibility of a railway link between the two countries.<\/p>\n
\nThey also discussed increasing trade between Iraq and Iran, setting up a joint security committees and how to help the visa process for travel between them.<\/p>\n
\nRouhani said the two countries aimed to boost trade from $12 billion to $20 billion.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe held talks on trade in electricity, gas, petroleum products,\u201d Rouhani said.<\/p>\n
\nIran is hoping to maintain exports to Iraq despite the latest sanctions, which took effect on Nov. 5. The country has seen its oil exports plunge and its currency lose more than half its value.<\/p>\n
\nThe US has granted Iraq a 45-day waiver to allow it to continue to purchase gas and electricity from Iran for use in its power stations.<\/p>\n
\nIraq has suffered extensive electricity outages this year, sparking widespread protests in the south. Iraqi officials say they need more time to find an alternative source, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
\nSalih visits Saudi Arabia on Sunday as part of a regional tour that included Jordan, the UAE and Kuwait. Relations between the Kingdom and Iraq improved in 2017 as the two countries held a series of high-level meetings.<\/p>\n
\nThe sanctions have increased pressure on Iraq\u2019s new Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. He still has not managed to get a number of key ministerial positions approved by parliament as the main rival factions jostle for influence.<\/p>\n
\nMeanwhile, Iranian workers launched further industrial action as the country struggles under the weight of its economic woes.<\/p>\n
\nWorkers at Iran\u2019s oldest sugar cane company went on strike on Saturday over unpaid wages, the Iranian ILNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n
\nILNA published a photo of a rally by workers from the Haft Tapeh company in Shush, south-western Iran, showing women marching with their children – one holding a sign saying: \u201cWe are hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Under crippling sanctions, Iranian leaders discuss economic ties with Iraqi president\u00a0 BAGHDAD: The Iraqi president visited Iran on Saturday as Tehran seeks to shore up ties with its closest economic partners after crushing new sanctions were reimposed by the US.\u00a0 Iran is struggling to cope with the impact of two waves of sanctions this year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":22249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}