Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadimi became the first foreign leader to visit Iran under the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi. The visit signals Raisi’s prioritizing of neighboring countries over Western countries.

After their meeting, Raisi said that Iran and Iraq’s relations go beyond issues of a shared border, and that they are “deep relations” of people-to-people and government-to-government on a number of issues, including faith. "Despite the wishes of the enemy, there is room for relations to grow," he added.

Iraq is stuck in a delicate balancing act between its relations with Iran, which it shares a border with, and the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf and the United States. Iraq needs the support of all these countries if it wants to have domestic stability, though many of them are seeking to reduce the others’ influence in Iraq.

Iranian daily newspaper Javan ran an article about Khadimi’s visit headlined, “Mediator in Tehran.” The article read that Khadimi’s mediation efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia and between Iran and the United States are two of the most important issues that the prime minister could discuss. Iraq recently hosted a summit in Baghdad attended by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, though no breakthroughs were made in regard to diplomacy between Iran and Saudi Arabia.