ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Monday arrived in Cairo ahead of his participation in the 166th session of the Council of the Arab League, coming as the US-Iran conflict has spilled over into several Middle Eastern and Arab countries.

Hussein is set to meet with several Arab foreign ministers on the sidelines of the meeting, the Iraqi foreign ministry said, announcing his arrival in the Egyptian capital.

The league met for the 165th session in late June at the foreign minister level, with Arab foreign ministers holding a consultative meeting prior to the official session. Tunisia is taking over the council presidency from Bahrain this time around.

Arab foreign ministers and leaders meet often, though their meetings do not routinely lead to well-coordinated, impactful decisions

Iraq hosted the Arab League summit in May 2025 under former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, but it was marked by underwhelming turnup as dozens of heads of state skipped the meeting, while some of the five who showed up left early.

This session comes amid a renewed flare-up in hostilities between Iran and the US, which has seen retaliatory strikes target several Middle Eastern states, including Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq through the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil.