Iran’s Rouhani says he supports Iraqi efforts to evict United States

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Tehran fully supports efforts in Baghdad to evict the United States, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Saturday, days after reports that the US had threatened to close its diplomatic mission in Iraq if attacks on its embassy and troops did not stop.

Measures taken by the Iraqi parliament and lawmakers demanding the United States withdraw from Iraq are a “positive step… and supported by us,” Rouhani said, according to a statement on his website.

"We consider the presence of American armed forces in the region, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Persian Gulf's southern countries, detrimental to regional security and stability,” he said.

The Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling on the Americans to pull out of Iraq after the US killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike in Baghdad in January.

The US embassy in Baghdad and bases housing American troops in southern Iraq have come under frequent rocket fire, believed to be carried out by Iranian-backed militias who want the Americans to leave.

Upset at Baghdad’s inability to stop the attacks, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote to Iraqi President Barham Salih, warning that if the Iraqi government did not take action against the militias, the US would do so itself and would close its embassy in Baghdad, Al Monitor reported on Friday.

Last year, Iranian diplomatic missions were also attacked during anti-government protests. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed “attacks on Iranian diplomatic premises” with Hussein on Saturday, he tweeted. And he “Underlined imperative of protection of diplomatic posts.”

Iraq is caught between rivals Iran and the United States. European Union Ambassador to Iraq Martin Huth told Rudaw in an interview last week that Iraq faces two possibilities: become a meeting point for the two powers and flourish or be “exploited, abused.”

Foreign Minister Hussein is in Tehran to lay the groundwork for upcoming negotiations and implementation of agreements on expanding ties and cooperation, according to the Iranian presidential statement.

A “special committee has been appointed to conduct negotiations and prepare the ground for the implementation of the agreements between the two countries, whose members will travel to Iran in the coming weeks,” said Hussein. The agreements cover issues of border cooperation, transportation, and trade.

Iran’s Rouhani says he supports Iraqi efforts to evict United States

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