ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iranian parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Wednesday arrived in Baghdad for high-level meetings with Iraqi officials, saying his visit seeks to bolster a "new order in the region" free from external interference.

“Our visit to Iraq today is a step towards the new system in the region and accelerating the cooperation between all regional countries without external influence,” Ghalibaf said at a presser upon his arrival.

"In the new regional order, foreign interference and extra-regional actors in regional equations are rapidly decreasing. American forces are seeking a graceful exit from the region, and the Zionist regime has no future in our region and will not even dream of achieving its goals."

According to Iranian state media, he is set to hold high-level meetings with Iraqi officials, including the president, as well as economic and cultural figures.

The parliament speaker delivered his address at a memorial site for Qasem Soleimani, the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force chief, and Popular Mobilization Commission (PMC) Chairman Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both of whom were killed by a US airstrike at Baghdad International Airport in 2020.

"This is where the American terrorist government, as the main center of the forces of evil, assassinated two of the most prominent figures of the forces of good when it realized it could not stop the strengthening and expansion of the resistance front," Ghalibad asserted.

"They were heroes who saved Iraq, Iran, and the entire region from the evils of ISIS [the Islamic State]," he said of the two deceased. "Know that we, and all those who believe in your school of thought in Iran and Iraq, will not rest until we achieve your ideals."

The visit comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set a September 30 deadline for all militias in the country, many of whom are Iran-aligned, to lay down arms as part of his efforts to confine weapons to the state.

Thus far, several armed militias have agreed to disarm and divorce themselves from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a nominally state-controlled umbrella group that includes factions accused of operating at Tehran's behest, while others such as the powerful Kataib Hezbollah - responsible for myriad drone attacks in the Kurdistan Region during the US-Israeli war on Iran - have rejected the prospect of laying down their weapons.

Ghalibaf's arrival comes just two days after a drone attack on Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s office, which Kurdish counterterrorism forces said was launched from Iran. The attack was widely condemned by Kurdish, Iraqi, and international political actors.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Monday held a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in which he demanded clarification on the attack on Barzani’s office.

Zaidi also ordered the formation of an investigative committee to uncover the details of the drone attack.

"The bond between the two nations of Iran and Iraq is a historical, deeply rooted, and unbreakable one," Ghalibaf remarked in Baghdad.

"God willing, during this visit, we will take significant steps to strengthen internal and shared security and the prosperity of the two nations. Our strength lies in our brotherhood," he concluded.