IRGC’s Qaani holds unannounced meetings with political leaders in Baghdad

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force Commander, General Esmail Qaani, arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday for an unannounced visit and held meetings with several senior political figures, a political source told Shafaq News.

“Qaani’s meetings included leaders from key Shiite political parties and armed factions. The purpose of the visit remains unclear,” the source said.

The visit comes amid reported tensions within the Coordination Framework (CF), a coalition of Shiite parties, over the use of state resources and political influence in support of certain electoral lists ahead of Iraq’s upcoming elections.

Earlier, sources told Shafaq News that Iranian officials have recently stepped in to mediate and contain the growing internal disputes within the coalition, adding that during his previous visit to Iraq — officially to offer condolences for the death of the wife of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani — Qaani held separate meetings with CF leaders and “urged them to maintain unity and set aside differences before the elections.”