US-Iraq talks ahead of Iranian foreign minister visit

The US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, met with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji on Monday ahead of the visit by the Iranian Foreign Minister to Baghdad yesterday, Anadolu has reported.

A statement from Araji’s media office said that the two officials discussed “the latest developments in the political and security situation in Iraq and the region,” as well as the file of “Al-Hawl and Al-Jadaa camps”. The two camps house displaced families, including families of Daesh terrorists who fled Iraq after 2017, following the retaking of Mosul and other areas from the extremists’ control.

Popular circles in Iraq reject the return of these families who were “involved in killing civilians” in areas of the governorates of Nineveh, Salah Al-Din, Kirkuk and Anbar under the group’s control between 2014 and 2017.

Al-Araji and Romanowski also discussed the strategic framework agreement signed in 2008, as well as ways to continue cooperation and coordination in confronting terrorism.

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The ambassador expressed Washington’s support for the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Al-Sudani as well as Iraq’s efforts to combat terrorism, strengthen the Iraqi economy and exchange experiences and information. The Iraqi official stressed the importance of strengthening strategic relations between Iraq and the United States, in a way that serves the common interests of both countries, consolidates Iraq’s sovereignty and enhances the security and stability of the region.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, Basem Al-Awadi, said that his country is ready to mediate between Washington and Tehran. The US and some Middle East states accuse Iran of seeking to produce nuclear weapons, pursuing an expansionist agenda in the region, and interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries, including Iraq. Tehran insists that its nuclear programme is designed for peaceful purposes only, including electricity generation, and that it adheres to the principles of good neighbourliness in the region.