Iraqi parliament speaker's trip to Iran postponed

The office of Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi said in a statement on Saturday that al-Halbousi was due to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Bagher ghalibaf but due to legal and parliamentary considerations on both sides, as well as the illness and health condition of the speaker of the Iranian parliament, his planned trip to Tehran was postponed, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The Iraqi speaker was scheduled to meet with the Iranian President Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi and a number of other high-ranking Iranian officials during the visit.

The Iraqi parliament failed to convene for a session on Saturday to elect the next Iraqi president and delayed the session to Wednesday, due to the insufficient number of MPs present. A two-thirds majority of members is required to elect the president.

Ahmed Assad, a leader from the Coordination Framework, presented a signature of 126 MPs who were boycotting the session, according to local Iraqi media.

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