BAGHDAD: Iran and Iraq on Wednesday signed more than a dozen agreements to deepen already strong ties as Masoud Pezeshkian visited Baghdad on his first foreign trip as president of the Islamic republic.

The three-day trip comes amid turmoil in the Middle East sparked by the war in Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups and complicated Iraq’s relations with the United States.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said both governments opposed any expansion of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

“In light of the escalation that the region has been going through, we have spoken a lot about the importance of stability,” Sudani said, blaming Israel for the regional spillover of the war.

Pezeshkian announced that “14 cooperation memorandums were signed between Iran and Iraq, which is the starting point of the expansion of cooperation”.

“If we are together, we will avoid falling into the fire,” he added.

Pezeshkian has vowed to make relations with neighbouring countries a priority as he seeks to ease Iran’s international isolation and mitigate the impact of US-led sanctions on its economy.

His visit comes after Western powers on Tuesday announced fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range missiles for use against Ukraine.

Hours before Pezeshkian’s arrival, an explosion rocked a US diplomatic base at Baghdad’s international airport but caused no casualties, according to the US embassy.

Ties between Iran and Iraq, both Shiite-majority countries, have grown closer since the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled the Sunni-dominated regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July after an early election following the death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, has previously linked shoring up ties to sanctions pressure.

“Relations with neighbouring countries... can neutralise a significant amount of pressure of the sanctions,” he said last month.

Iran has suffered years of crippling Western sanctions, especially after its arch-foe the United States, under then-president Donald Trump, unilaterally abandoned a landmark nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and major powers in 2018.

Iran has become one of Iraq’s leading trade partners, and wields considerable political influence in Baghdad.

Every year, millions of Iranian pilgrims travel to Iraq’s Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and Pezeshkian will also visit the shrines there during his visit.

Non-oil trade between Iran and Iraq stood at nearly $5 billion over the five months from March 2024, Iranian media reported.