Iraqi TV: Iran's President Arrives in Baghdad on 3-day Visit – Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi state television said, making his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State group.
Since Rouhani's election in 2013, Iraq has relied on Iranian paramilitary support to fight IS, following the militant group's capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul and other territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Now with the militants facing a final territorial defeat in the Syrian village of Baghouz, Iran is looking for Iraq's continued support as it faces a maximalist pressure campaign by President Donald Trump after his decision to withdraw America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers…
Rouhani is accompanied on the three-day visit to Iraq by a high-ranking political and economic delegation.
It underscores how much has changed since the 1980s, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, sparking an eight-year war that killed 1 million people. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam, Iran began a campaign of backing militants who targeted American forces in Iraq…