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US Will Leave Baghdad Embassy in 90 Days, If Iraq Doesn't Rein in Attacks

September 28, 2020

 

An Iraqi woman protesting against the US embassy in Baghdad, file, September 27, 2020 hill

 

US says it will leave Baghdad embassy if Iraq doesn't rein in attacks: report

By Justine Coleman,

The Hill, September 28, 2020  

The U.S. told Iraq that it will leave its embassy in Baghdad if Iraq doesn't rein in the attacks on personnel connected to American troops, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi about the plan for a U.S. departure from the embassy, an official familiar with the matter told the Post. Two Western officials in the city told the newspaper their country's diplomatic missions were told about the plan.

An Iraqi official told the Post that the U.S. had requested its government be forceful against militias, indicating if the Iraqi government took appropriate steps, it's possible the embassy may not be shut down.

The departure from Baghdad is expected to take 90 days, which a diplomat familiar with the situation told the newspaper would give President Trump's administration time to reevaluate.

Ahmed Mulla Talal, a spokesperson for Kadhimi, said Sunday that the country hopes the U.S. "will reconsider" its decision.

"There are outlaw groups that try to shake this relationship and closing the embassy would send a negative message to them," he said.

The Post reported that it was unclear whether the White House approved of the deal. But two U.S. officials said Pompeo cautioned about the possible closure of the embassy without necessary action against the militias.

A spokesperson from the State Department told The Hill in a statement the department does not comment on Pompeo's "private diplomatic conversations with foreign leaders" but added the U.S. has expressed concerns about Iran-backed militias attacking the embassy.

The spokesperson continued by saying these militias are "the single biggest deterrent" to the U.S.'s moves to ensure financial support for the country.

A senior official in Kadhimi's office said the Iraqi prime minister was working on getting support from European partners to persuade the U.S. to stay to prevent a risk to stability in Iraq, according to the Post.

President Trump directed the killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani earlier this year, sparking Iran-backed militias to launch strikes on the embassy and Iraqi military bases that hosted U.S.-led coalition troops deployed to fight ISIS.

This year, two U.S., one British and several Iraqi military members have been killed in attacks that have been traced back to Iran-backed militias.

The Post noted that Kadhimi has attempted to target the militias through their funding and by restructuring Iraq's security system, but the militias reacted by launching more strikes.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-says-it-will-leave-baghdad-embassy-if-iraq-doesn-t-rein-in-attacks-report/ar-BB19tHtb?ocid=msnews

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US threatens to close embassy in Baghdad

Pompeo ultimatum to halt attacks on US military and diplomatic sites in Iraq would leave

Asia Times, AFP, SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

Enraged by near-daily attacks on its interests in Iraq, Washington has threatened to close its embassy in Baghdad, in a blow to a premier seen as a bulwark against Iran.

Iraq has long been caught in a tug-of-war between its allies Iran and the US, rendered rockier by Washington’s “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran since 2018.

In a new escalation, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iraqi President Barham Saleh last week to deliver an ultimatum, Iraqi and foreign officials told AFP.

Unless Iraq’s government puts an end to the rockets raining down on US military and diplomatic sites, Washington would shutter its embassy and recall its troops, the sources said.

“The Americans aren’t just angry. They’re really, really, really angry,” one Iraqi official told AFP.

Another said: “The honeymoon is over.”

The US still has hundreds of diplomats in its mission at the high-security Green Zone in Baghdad and around 3,000 troops based in three bases across the country. 

Since 2019, dozens of rockets and improvised explosives have targeted these sites, with US and Iraqi officials blaming Tehran-backed factions including Kataeb Hezbollah.

Washington has twice retaliated with strikes on Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq and threatened earlier this year to bomb more than 120 further sites if the rocket attacks cost American lives, a top Iraqi official told AFP.

The frustration failed to ease even after Mustafa al-Kadhemi, seen as Western-leaning, took office as premier in May.

Ahead of Kadhemi’s visit to Washington in August, the US signalled it was “unsatisfied with his actions” against pro-Iran armed groups, an Iraqi official said.

The US declined to comment on Pompeo’s latest call, but a State Department official told AFP that “Iran-backed groups launching rockets at our embassy are a danger not only to us, but to the Government of Iraq”.

Growing rift

Fresh in the minds of Iraqi officials and armed groups is the US drone strike in January that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi.

Since then, many pro-Iran paramilitary leaders have gone into hiding lest they be subject to American strikes or sanctions.

The new US threats seem to have deepened the growing rift between factions loyal to Iran and those less willing to enter into a full confrontation with the US. 

After months of silence, influential cleric and political leader Moqtada Sadr took to Twitter this week to call for “the creation of a security, military and parliamentary committee to investigate” the rocket attacks.

Within minutes, Kadhemi and other top government figures endorsed the recommendation.

“There’s a consensus on condemning these attacks. Kataeb Hezbollah and other hardliners are isolated and left without political cover,” an Iraqi official said.

Even the Hashed al-Shaabi slammed rocket attacks as “illegal military acts”, denied involvement and formally sidelined a pair of commanders seen as too Tehran-leaning.

But the hardliners, too, are organising. 

A half-dozen previously unheard-of groups have claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on the US and even threatened the United Nations in recent months.

Iraqi intelligence officials and political sources say Iran has been gathering the most hardline among its Iraqi allies into these new formations.

PM in hot water?

These reconstituted groups see Kadhemi as Washington’s man in Baghdad and are irked by his vows to rein them in.

“They’re sending a message from Iran to the US: the recent political developments have changed nothing. We can still hit you hard, and no leader can implement your agenda in Iraq,” said a source from Iraq’s Shiite political network.

That has left the prime minister in a precarious position.

A US withdrawal could hand his rivals an unintended propaganda win, a Western diplomat in Baghdad told AFP.

“If Washington follows through and withdraws its people, these groups will be able to brag that they kicked the Americans out of Iraq at little cost,” the official said.

Iraq’s parliament voted after Soleimani’s killing to oust foreign troops posted in the country to help fight jihadist remnants, but Kadhemi has tried to slow-walk the decision.

He has also embarked on an anti-corruption drive, launched a strategic dialogue with Washington and sought to fast-track deals with US companies that would decrease Iraq’s reliance on Iranian energy imports.

His downfall, Western diplomats and analysts said, could be a nightmare for Iraq’s stability.

“If the US really closes its embassy, it will leave Kadhemi in a very weak and dangerous position, opening the door for militias to expand and maybe take extreme action against the state,” said Ali Mamouri, an analyst and editor of the Iraq Pulse at Al-Monitor news website. 

https://asiatimes.com/2020/09/us-threatens-to-close-embassy-in-baghdad/

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