Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, arrived in Iraq on Wednesday for his first trip abroad since taking office in July, a demonstration of the value the Iranians place on the strategic alliance with their neighbor as tensions rise in the region around them.

Iran’s reformist new president is in Iraq on his first trip abroad, hoping to cement Tehran's ties to Baghdad as regional tensions increasingly pull both countries into the Mideast fray

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Iraq on Wednesday on his first foreign trip, signalling the clerical establishment's intention to strengthen ties with a strategic ally of both Tehran and Washington as regional tensions rise.