Iraq angered by Trump idea to watch Iran from US base
Iraq’s President Barham Saleh has
rebuked Donald Trump over his comments that he wanted to maintain a US
military presence there to watch Iran.
Mr Trump told CBS on Sunday
he intended to keep an “incredible” base being used by US troops to
combat the jihadist group Islamic State “because I want to be looking a
little bit at Iran”.
Mr Saleh said on Monday that the US had not asked Iraq’s permission to do so.
It should stick to fighting terrorism and not pursue other agendas, he added.
There are an 5,000 estimated US military personnel in Iraq authorised to train, advise and assist Iraqi security forces in their fight against IS, which has not fully controlled any territory in the country for more than a year.
He
said the troops would soon be moving to the huge Al Asad Airbase in
Iraq’s Anbar province and that their new tasks would include protecting
Israel and keeping an eye on Iran, which his administration has accused
of being the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and of wanting
to acquire nuclear weapons.
“We spent a fortune on building this incredible base. We might as well keep it,” he said. “And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem.”
When asked if the troops stationed in Iraq could be used to strike
Iran, Mr Trump responded: “All I want to do is be able to watch.”
He
added: “If there’s trouble, if somebody is looking to do nuclear
weapons or other things, we’re going to know it before they do.”
However, the remarks caused a stir in Iraq, which is a close ally of Iran.
“Don’t
overburden Iraq with your own issues,” President Saleh told a forum in
Baghdad on Monday. “The US is a major power… but do not pursue your
own policy priorities. We live here.”
Mr Saleh noted that under
2008 US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement, Washington had agreed not to
use Iraq “as a launching or transit point for attacks against other
countries”.
He added: “Any action taken outside this framework is unacceptable.”
The BBC’s Paul Adams says this poses a problem for the government in
Baghdad and could complicate delicate negotiations over US use of the Al
Asad Airbase.
Those negotiations, he adds, have been based on the
premise that Al Asad would be used to continue the fight against IS. It
is something Mr Trump referred to when he visited the base in December.
But our correspondent says the US president’s latest references
to Iran and the need to protect Israel point to a very different set of
priorities, which is causing unease in Baghdad.
Iraqi politicians
allied to Iran or the influential Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, a long-time
adversary of the US who also opposes Iranian influence in Iraq, have for
weeks been calling on the government to remove of all foreign troops
from the country.
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