Iraq’s parliament speaker arrives in Iran to meet counterpart 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Al-Halboosi and a delegation of lawmakers arrived in Iran’s capital Tehran on Wednesday on an official visit, his media office announced.

Al-Halboosi began his official visit by meeting his Iranian counterpart, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iran’s parliament), Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who sent Al-Halboosi the invitation to visit. 

He is also set to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other top officials.

The Iraqi official had initially planned to visit the country a month ago, but that trip was cancelled. 

The visit comes as Iraqi political parties still haven’t reached an agreement to form a new government almost six months after parliamentary elections. The parliament speakership is the only top position that has been filled so far.

The Saving the Homeland coalition, which holds nearly 180 seats of the parliament’s 329, has given its rivals, the Shiite Coordination Framework, a month to form the new government after it failed to get enough lawmakers to vote for its presidential candidate. 

The political parties in the Framework are known to have close ties to Iran.