Iran’s outreach to Iraq, Oman, Lebanon increases pressure on West - analysis

Iran has been on a diplomatic offensive this week, as its foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited Oman  where he met Omani officials on Wednesday, discussed the conflict in Yemen and the status of Iran’s nuclear talks with the West, according to Iranian regime media.

Iran’s IRNA said he met with Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. He also discussed Yemen, Sudan and even mentioned “Palestine,” according to reports.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with his Iraqi counterpart on Saturday, where he slammed the US and its role in the region.

Through these moves, Iran is seeking to cement stronger ties with Iraq, where militias threaten the region. Raisi said that Iran was working with Iraq on security understandings and that it considers Iraq very important for its own security. It has also said that it sees “the presence of Americans in the region to be disruptive to the region’s security.”

Iran satisfied with Syrian normalization ties

Iran also welcomed the openness of countries to normalization with Syria, including its meetings with Russia and Turkey, as well as its outreach to the Gulf.

“We welcome the improvement of Syria’s diplomatic relations in the region and the world, especially with brotherly Arab countries, in a way that guarantees Syria’s security, stability and prosperity,” said Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, during a Security Council briefing on the situation in Syria.

At the same time, Abdollahian visited Lebanon this week. Iran has claimed that it wants a new president to be elected in Lebanon – without “foreign” interference. This is the same reference to “foreign” that Raisi mentioned in his meeting with his Iraqi president – the US.

Iran’s full-court press is now clear. It is working with Russia and Turkey to re-integrate Syria, while in Oman, it is working to end the Yemen conflict, as it wants the blockade off Yemen lifted in order to empower the Houthis.

Iran works in Lebanon to put its preferred candidate in the presidency and works at the UN to help Syria. They also meet with Iraqis to try to get the US to leave Iraq and Syria.