Iran slams US blacklisting of prominent Iraq politician

Advisor of Iraqi National Security Falih Faisal Fahad Alfayyadh attends the funeral ceremony of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Forces in Baghdad, Iraq on 4 January 2020 [Murtadha Sudani / Anadolu Agency]

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has condemned the US’ decision to impose sanctions on Falih Al-Fayyadh, head of the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq, saying the move is “doomed to fail”.

Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said: “The imposition of sanctions against a government institution official in Iraq is doomed to fail, and aims to achieve the American’s sinister intentions.”

On Friday, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Fayyadh, accusing him of committing serious human rights abuses.

“Falih Al-Fayyadh stands accused of directing and supervising the killing of peaceful Iraqi demonstrators” in 2019 and must be held accountable, the Treasury said in a statement.

On Saturday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry also slammed the American decision saying it “came as an unacceptable surprise”.

The Iraqi ministry said in a statement that it will follow up on the issue along with the matter of sanctions imposed against other Iraqi figures with US authorities.

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