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Iraq: Parliament to discuss US forces’ presence

February 5, 2019 at 12:05 pm

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammad Al-Halbusi said yesterday that parliament will discuss the redistribution of US troops in the country during the next legislative term.

Al-Halbusi made the remarks after US President Donald Trump said he intends to keep a military base in Iraq to ‘watch Iran’.

Iraqi President Barham Salih responded to Trump’s remarks saying the US President did not ask Iraq’s permission, stressing that the agreements signed between the US and Iraq do not include using Iraqi territories to monitor the activities of Iran.

Speaking at a forum in Baghdad, Al-Halbusi said a number of ministers have requested the US troops’ presence in Iraq be reviewed as well as to cancel the strategic framework agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington which regulates relations in various fields, including the current US military presence in the Anbar province.

READ: US forces return to Baghdad

Al-Halbusi stressed that “Iraq has strong relations with neighbouring countries.

Iraq and the United States signed the framework agreement in 2008 under the rule of former US President George Bush which paved the way for US forces to leave the country in 2011.

Trump angered Iraqi political forces in December by paying a surprise visit to a US military base in Iraq without meeting any Iraqi official. The Iraqis considered the visit a violation of diplomatic norms and the country’s sovereignty.

Some 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq since 2014 as part of an international coalition to fight Daesh.