Iraqi PM, in call with Trump, requests end to travel ban

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi asked US President Donald Trump to lift the ban on Iraqis travelling to America, in the first phone call between the two leaders, the Iraqi government said today.

“Mr Trump stressed the importance of coordination to find a solution to this issue as soon as possible and that he will direct the US State Department in this regard,” the government said in a statement, adding that it was the US president who initiated the call yesterday.

Trump has said he will keep pushing to reinstate an executive order temporarily banning people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A US judge suspended the order last week and a court yesterday refused an appeal to reinstate it.

Al-Abadi resisted calls from influential pro-Iranian Shia politicians to retaliate against the ban when it was first announced by Trump at the end of January, citing Iraq’s need for US military support in the war on Daesh.

More than 5,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces retake Mosul, the last city in Iraq under the militants’ control.

Trump told Al-Abadi: “We will work together to defeat terrorism because Iraq is an ally of ours,” according to the Iraqi statement. “Dr Abadi confirmed Iraq’s desire to strengthen relations with the US at various levels.”