Iraq hosted a summit over the weekend that brought together top officials from Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria and, most notably, Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran, which support opposite sides in brutal proxy wars throughout the Middle East. Analysts view the conference as an attempt by Baghdad to recast itself as a neutral intermediary following decades of instability and conflict in the country. Riyadh has attempted over the past year to project influence in Iraq, where the Islamic Republic, Saudi Arabia’s arch-nemesis, has made major inroads. Those inroads have been both political, through the election of pro-Iranian parliamentarians, and military, through the formal incorporation of paramilitaries loyal to the Ayatollahs into the Iraqi armed forces. “Today, Iraq is building a promising strategic partnership with all neighboring countries without any reservations or favoring any party,” Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi, who hosted the summit, was quoted by Arab media as saying. Iraq is seeking to boost trade with Iran despite US sanctions, and has sought billions of dollars in investment from Saudi Arabia to jump-start its ailing economy and rebuild much of the nation’s dilapidated infrastructure. The initiative could put Baghdad at odds with US President Donald Trump, who last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran is a staunch backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as the Houthi rebels in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition of regional countries in the four-years-long civil war.
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