US Secretary of State Pompeo visits Iraq amid Iran tensions

BBC News :

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unscheduled, fleeting visit to Iraq, amid growing tensions with Iran.

Mr Pompeo cancelled a trip to Berlin to meet with Iraqi leaders during a four-hour stop in the capital Baghdad.

He told the leaders that the US doesn’t “want anybody interfering in their country”, and asked them to protect US troops in Iraq.

The visit came days after the US deployed an aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, to the region.

Officials said the deployment was in response to threats to US forces and its allies from Iran. On Tuesday it was revealed the US was sending B-52 bombers.

The US has given little information about the exact nature of the reported threat, which Iran has dismissed as nonsense.

John Bolton, the US national security adviser, said only that the US was acting “in response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” on announcing the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln on Sunday.

Mr Pompeo is also due to visit London on Wednesday, where he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Theresa May and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Why was Mike Pompeo in Iraq?

While in Baghdad, the US secretary of state met the Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Barham Salih, and explained the US’s security concerns to them.

He also asked them to protect US troops and citizens in the country.

Mr Pompeo later said that the leaders “provided assurances that they understood that was their responsibility”.

“We wanted them to know about the increased threat stream that we had seen, to give them a little bit more background so that they would have enough information that they could ensure that they were doing all that they could to provide protection for our team,” he said.

“They understood, too, it’s important for their country. We don’t want anybody interfering in their country, certainly not by attacking another nation inside of Iraq, and there was complete agreement.”

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he also directly linked the visit to the recent escalation with Iran, which neighbours Iraq.

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Mr Pompeo said that he wanted to “speak with the leadership there [in Iraq], to assure them that we stood ready to continue to ensure that Iraq is a sovereign, independent nation”.

He also said that he wanted to help them become less dependent on energy deals with Iran.

Why is the US sending bombers to the region?

Acting Pentagon spokesman Charles Summers said in a statement that the US does “not seek war with the Iranian regime, but we will defend US personnel, our allies and our interests in the region”.

“The deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force are considered a prudent step in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests,” he added.

Officials first announced that the aircraft carrier was being sent to the Gulf on Sunday.

John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, said at the time that it was to send “a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interest or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force”.