And Abdul-Mahdi, long considered friendly by Washington, said he favored the second option. pull out deliberately and slowly or that it do so as quickly as possible. Indeed, as the vote approached on the nonbinding resolution Sunday, Abdul-Mahdi offered parliament only two options: that the U.S. pull out deliberately and slowly or that it do so as quickly as possible.”Ībdul-Mahdi and other Iraqi officials, framing this as duplicity from Trump, apparently feel they have little choice at this point but to demand American forces withdraw. “Abdul-Mahdi offered parliament only two options: that the U.S. But Abdul-Mahdi told Iraq’s parliament Sunday, “I was supposed to meet Soleimani the day he was killed.” He had come to deliver “a message from Iran responding to the message we delivered from Saudi to Iran.” Trump claims he ordered the hit to stop a major attack on Americans. But Trump already had ordered the drones and helicopters set in motion to terminate the Iranian general in a fiery blast early last Friday morning near Baghdad airport. When the embassy siege ended, Abdul-Mahdi got a phone call from Trump thanking his government, and Trump asked him “to play the mediator’s role” between the U.S. The Iraqis had known that Soleimani could make the violence worse-or he could rein in the many Iraqi militias over which he held de facto command, and thus ease the tensions. Embassy compound in Baghdad’s Green Zone. The militia’s supporters responded by trying to batter their way into the fortress-like U.S. airstrikes against Kataeb Hezbollah, killing at least 24 people. An American contractor had been killed by a militia, Kataeb Hezbollah, that is part of the Iraqi government’s forces but which answered to Soleimani. Last week, as Abdul-Mahdi worked to calm an increasingly explosive confrontation, he turned to Soleimani for help. and Iran have combined with a sense of betrayal by their American allies. military personnel abroad-and another was the Iranian regime deciding to amp up its nuclear program.įor senior Iraqi officials who have worked closely with the United States, including Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, fears that their country will become the proxy battleground for a war between the U.S. According to two administration officials, one of the listed potential consequences was attacks on U.S. Shortly before he ordered Thursday’s fateful, potentially world-altering attack, the president was briefed on a menu of possible consequences if Soleimani were slain. Sunday’s maelstrom and new developments were not entirely unexpected by Trump’s national security brass or his war planners. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!” the president raged on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. “These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. ![]() In response to Sunday’s events Trump threatened “disproportionate” strikes against Tehran and indicated he would not be constrained by anyone on the Hill. And the Iraqi vote in parliament, although nonbinding, worried officials in the State Department who for days had tried to convince officials in Iraq that backing America’s presence in the country was still the best bet for a continued partnership. Tehran’s announcement about its nuclear program Sunday indicated that the efforts Iran and the United States made in recent months to discuss the possibility of negotiations had all but evaporated. ![]() ![]() It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.” troops: “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. President Donald Trump’s truculent response? Threaten Iraq with sanctions if it expels U.S. service member, but combined, the two events served as a wakeup call for officials in Washington who for days had tried desperately to manage the fallout of the Soleimani strike, with some describing it as an act to “advance the cause of peace.” The pushback didn’t come in the form of a targeted strike on a major American outpost or U.S. The Iraqi parliament voted to oust American troops from the country and Tehran announced that it would pull completely out of its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal. strike that killed the powerful Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the Trump administration got its first real taste of international pushback.
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