WASHINGTON: The security and defense relationship between the US and Iraq will be an important part of talks when Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani visits Washington next week but is not the primary focus of the visit, a senior State Department official said on Thursday.
The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the emphasis of Sudani’s visit would be economic ties, even as Washington and Baghdad are in talks over ending the US-led military coalition in the country.
US forces and Shiite Muslim armed groups have engaged in tit-for-tat attacks in recent months amid regional conflict linked to Israel’s war in Gaza, leading to Sudani in January announcing his intention to end the US military presence.
The senior State Department official said the defense and security relationship will be part of the discussions during Sudani’s visit, when he will meet both with President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“(It is) likely to be a very important part of our – of the discussion,” the official said. “It is not the primary focus of the visit ... but it is almost certainly going to come up.”
The visit’s focus will instead be the economy and issues including education, environment and US support for development, the official said, without providing details.
“We’re going to have a full range of discussions about our relationship and where it’s going,” the official said.
The US invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein and withdrew in 2011, only for troops to return in 2014 to help fight Islamic State (IS) after the extremist Sunni Muslim militant group overran large parts of the country.
Washington and Baghdad began talks in January to reassess the US-led military coalition presence there.
The official said those talks were likely to lead to a second joint security cooperation dialogue later this year.
Defense relationship part of US-Iraq talks in Washington next week, US official says
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Defense relationship part of US-Iraq talks in Washington next week, US official says
- Washington and Baghdad began talks in January to reassess the US-led military coalition presence there
Germany plays down threat of US invading Greenland after talks
WASHINGTON: Germany’s top diplomat on Monday played down the risk of a US attack on Greenland, after President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to seize the island from NATO ally Denmark.
Asked after meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio about a unilateral military move by Trump, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said: “I have no indication that this is being seriously considered.”
“Rather, I believe there is a common interest in addressing the security issues that arise in the Arctic region, and that we should and will do so,” he told reporters.
“NATO is only now in the process of developing more concrete plans on this, and these will then be discussed jointly with our US partners.”
Wadephul’s visit comes ahead of talks this week in Washington between Rubio and the top diplomats of Denmark and Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Trump in recent days has vowed that the United States will take Greenland “one way or the other” and said he can do it “the nice way or the more difficult way.”
Greenland’s government on Monday repeated that it would not accept a US takeover under “any circumstance.”
Greenland and NATO also said Monday that they were working on bolstering defense of the Arctic territory, a key concern cited by Trump.
Trump has repeatedly pointed to growing Arctic activity by Russia and China as a reason why the United States needs to take over Greenland.
But he has also spoken more broadly of his desire to expand the land mass controlled by the United States.
