In recent weeks, the U.S. military has been bolstering its forces in the Middle East to guard against major new attacks by Iran or its allies, sending the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group into the region to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.

By Elwely Elwelly and Timour Azhari DUBAI/BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Iraq on Wednesday on his first foreign trip, signalling the clerical establishment's intention to strengthen ties with a strategic ally of both Tehran and Washington as regional tensions rise.