- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
- Electric cars overtake petrol models in Norway
- 'Shouted his name': Channel tragedy survivor hopes friend made it
Iran president makes 'historic' visit to Iraqi Kurdistan
Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan Thursday on a visit hailed by the regional president as the first by an Iranian president to the autonomous region.
Pezeshkian's visit to Iraq is his first trip abroad since he took office in July.
The Kurdistan leg is the latest sign of warming relations between Iran and the Kurds after years of tensions, most recently culminating in Iranian air strikes against Iranian-Kurdish rebels in the region two years ago.
Stepping off the plane in regional capital Arbil, Pezeshkian was welcomed by regional president Nechirvan Barzani on a red carpet lined with Kurdish peshmerga forces standing at attention with rifles at their sides.
Barzani hailed the first visit by an Iranian president to the region, describing it as a "historic day".
Pezeshkian also held talks with Kurdistan's prime minister, Masrour Barzani, as well as veteran Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, who presides over the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
"We hope to expand economic and commercial cooperation with the Iraqi Kurdistan region," Pezeshkian said, according to a statement from his office.
Pezeshkian later headed to Sulaimaniyah, a city where the KDP's historical rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), wields influence including in the security services.
On Wednesday in Baghdad, the first leg of his three-day visit, Pezeshkian announced the signing of more than a dozen agreements to strengthen ties between Iran and Iraq.
His trip comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the war in Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups and complicated Iraq's relations with the United States.
- 'Never pose a threat' -
Iran's ties with Iraqi Kurdistan have improved in recent months, aided by efforts to neutralise Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, which have long operated in the region.
During a meeting with Pezeshkian also attended by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, the Kurdish president pointed to "Kurdistan's desire to develop relations and expand cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all areas".
"The Kurdistan region will never pose a threat to Iran and neighbouring countries," a statement from Barzani's office said, adding that Arbil "respects the security deal signed between Iraq and Iran".
Tehran carried out repeated strikes on rebel groups in Kurdistan in 2022, before Iraq signed a security agreement with Iran the following year. Baghdad committed to disarm the groups and relocate them from border areas to camps.
"We have succeeded... in regulating the security situation in the border areas," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said on Wednesday, reiterating Iraq's refusal to allow any acts of aggression to be launched against Iran from its territory.
Iran had accused the rebel groups of smuggling weapons from Iraq to carry out attacks on its security forces.
It also accused Kurdish opposition movements of fuelling protests that shook Iran after the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd arrested by the morality police.
The Iranian president left the Kurdistan region in the afternoon, landing in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq's state news agency INA reported.
He is scheduled to visit Shiite shrines in both Najaf and nearby Karbala.
Y.Aukaiv--AMWN