For the first time since his swearing-in, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani paid a visit to neighboring Iraq. While the visit was sparked by the economic sanctions imposed by Donald Trump's administration and Iran's desire to create an economic corridor that would enable it to bypass those sanctions, it was also intended to implement a broader range of interests: to maintain Iraq within Tehran’s sphere of influence on the one hand, and to accumulate achievements at the expense of Rouhani’s domestic opponents on the other.