ERBIL — Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone call on Friday to discuss bilateral ties and Washington’s initial decision to withdraw its embassy from Baghdad.
Hussein expressed concern about the embassy’s pullout decision saying that “despite it being a sovereign decision on the US side, it may lead to results that are not in the interest of the Iraqi people,” according to a press release.
“The Minister also confirmed that the Iraqi government has taken a number of security, organizational, political, and diplomatic measures to stop the attacks on the Green Zone and the airport, and there will be tangible positive results in the near future,” it added.
Several US and Iraqi officials revealed to the media earlier this week that Washington was preparing to withdraw its diplomatic mission from its embassy in Baghdad due to the increasing attacks by Shia militias linked to Iran.
The reports caught Iraqi officials by surprise. They soon warned that a US withdrawal could lead other members of the Global Coalition to take similar measures, which would ultimately harm the efforts to defeat the Islamic State (IS).
The press release by the foreign ministry also noted that Hussein and Pompeo had discussed various future possibilities for the status of diplomatic missions in Baghdad, and the US Secretary of State promised to take what was discussed into consideration.