The Iraqi PM made the trip following a telephone call with British Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt on Monday.
Abdul-Mahdi’s diplomatic shuttling indicates Baghdad has not given up on its desire to play mediator between Iran and Western powers – mindful that any conflict in the Persian Gulf could shatter its own hard-won peace.
“On Monday, there was a phone call with the British defense minister to discuss bilateral ties, the regional crisis, and efforts of de-escalation and decreasing tensions in the region, and also the existing crisis concerning the confiscated ships,” Abdul-Mahdi told reporters in his weekly press conference Tuesday.
Iraq supports freedom of navigation, he added.
On July 4, a tanker called ‘Grace 1’ was detained by British Royal Marines off the coast of Gibraltar, a small British overseas territory on the southern tip of Spain at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The ship was suspected of carrying Iranian oil to a Syrian refinery which is subject to EU sanctions.
Iranian leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened to retaliate, saying British “piracy” would not go unanswered.
True to its word, Iran detained two British oil tankers on July 19 in the Strait of Hormuz. One of the ships is still detained.
“As a result of the call, we arranged a visit to the Islamic Republic after calling the brothers in the Islamic Republic. We were received by President [Hassan] Rouhani. There we presented the topic of the confiscated ships, and we truly tried to help break down this crisis,” Abdul-Mahdi said.
“Up to now, there is positive responsiveness. We will continue our efforts. We believe Iraq can play an important role between the different sides,” the PM added, pressing home Iraq’s desire to remain neutral in the US-Iran spat.
If war breaks out between Baghdad’s American and Iranian allies, Iraq risks being dragged into the conflict.
Ever since US President Donald Trump took the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, tensions have been on the rise.
The US deployed an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf region in May. On June 20, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it had downed a US Navy reconnaissance drone after it had allegedly violated its airspace.
The US claimed last week it had downed an Iranian drone that flew too close to one of its ships.
In a statement on Wednesday, Iraq’s Ministry of Oil said Iran had given Iraq reassurances of free and safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We felt a matching in points of views concerning the necessity of ensuring the freedom of movement of oil tankers and commercial ships in the Arab Gulf waters and the Hormuz Strait and respecting international law, which guarantees the freedom of navigation for all countries all the world, especially those of the region,” said Thamir Ghadhban, Iraq’s Minister of Oil, according to the statement.
