US insists no plans to pull out of Iraq
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States has no plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq, the White House and Pentagon insisted Tuesday, as Iraq premier
President Donald Trump said withdrawing the
Defense Secretary
"At some point we want to get out, but this isn't the right point," Trump said. "It's the worst thing that could happen to Iraq."
"Our policy has not changed. We are not leaving Iraq," Esper told reporters.
"There is no signed letter, to the best of my knowledge," Esper added.
Fallout from drone strike
Washington continued to defend itself from the fallout from its drone strike last Friday killing powerful Iranian General Qasem Soleimani just after he arrived in Baghdad from Damascus.
The killing of the key Iranian player in regional politics and security drew outrage from Iran and Soleimani's many supporters in Iraq.
On Sunday the Iraqi parliament voted to support expelling US troops, and the idea gained force Monday when the letter from the head of Task Force-Iraq, US Brigadier General
Seely wrote the US-led coalition would "be repositioning forces in the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement."
Trump and Esper strongly denied pullout
Mystery letter
But its existence continued to ripple through Iraqi and US politics, with no explanation of why it
"It was an official letter written in such a manner," Abdel Mahdi told a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday.
"It's not a piece of paper that fell off the printer or reached us by coincidence," he said.
The letter discussed "redeploying with an aim to withdraw from the country. The expressions were very clear," he said.
But Trump warned that a US departure would leave a gap
"If we leave, that would mean that Iran would have a much bigger foothold, and the people of Iraq do not want to see Iran run the country. That I can tell you," Trump told reporters.
"The Iraqi people were not happy when the suggestion
"But at some point, we will want to leave."
US officials also defended the decision to kill Soleimani, who was a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in charge of Middle East regional affairs, and who
While the White House and Pentagon continued to withhold details of the rationale for Friday's drone strike, Esper said Soleimani was planning imminent attacks against US assets.
"I think it's more fair to say days, for sure," Esper said.
Not a vacation
"They weren't there to discuss a vacation. They weren't there to go to a nice resort some place in Baghdad," Trump said of Soleimani and top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi
"They were there to discuss bad business, and we saved a lot of lives by
Esper said he fully expected Tehran to retaliate, and cautioned that while the United States "is not seeking a war with Iran,
"We are seeking a diplomatic solution but first, this will require Iran to de-escalate," he said.
"It will require the regime to come to the table with the goal of preventing further bloodshed."
Saudi Arabia reveals extensive damage to key oil facilities following weekend aerial strikes that were blamed on Iran, but vows to quickly restore full production even as regional tensions soar.
Yemen's Tehran-linked Huthi rebels, who announced a sudden halt to attacks on Saudi Arabia, claims the strikes on state giant Aramco's facilities in Khurais and the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq.
But Washington has pointed the finger at Tehran, condemning an "act of war" which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production and on Friday prompted US President Donald Trump to sketch out the latest in a series of economic sanctions against Iran. — AFP
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday accused his US counterpart of "inciting chaos" after President Joe Biden expressed support for protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death in custody.
"The remarks of the American president, who is inciting chaos, terror and the destruction of another country, serve as a reminder of the eternal words of the founder of the Islamic republic, who called America the Great Satan," Raisi says, referring to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.
"The enemy's plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people's problems," Raisi adds, according to a presidency statement.
Iran has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Amini's death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. — AFP
Detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been allowed to leave Iran and his son has been granted furlough from prison, a State Department spokesperson tells AFP, confirming their release.
"Wrongfully detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been permitted to depart Iran, and his son Siamak, also wrongfully detained, has been granted furlough from prison," the spokesperson says. — AFP
President Joe Biden says the United States will place "further costs" on Iran in response to the violent crackdown against "peaceful protestors" in the country.
"This week, the United States will be imposing further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protestors. We will continue holding Iranian officials accountable and supporting the rights of Iranians to protest freely," Biden says in a statement.
Biden says he is "gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Iran, including students and women, who are demanding their equal rights and basic human dignity."
"The United States stands with Iranian women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their bravery." — AFP
The United States rejects Iranian reports that Tehran's release of two detained Americans will lead to the unfreezing of Iranian funds abroad.
Baquer Namazi, 85, was permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, and his son Siamak, 50, was released from detention in Tehran, the United Nations said on Saturday.
Now Iran is awaiting the release of about $7 billion in funds frozen abroad, Iranian state media says.
"With the finalisation of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the prisoners of both countries, $7 billion of Iran's blocked resources will be released," the state news agency IRNA says.
But the US State Department dismissed any such link as "categorically false."
"Baquer Namazi was unjustly detained in Iran and then not permitted to leave the country after serving his sentence, despite his repeated requirement for urgent medical attention," a department spokesperson says. — AFP
Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that Washington is "imposing new conditions" in the negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"On the issue of lifting sanctions, they (the Americans) are interested in proposing and imposing new conditions outside the negotiations," state news agency IRNA quoted Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying.
"In the last two or three weeks, the American side has made excessive demands that contradict some paragraphs of the text," he added.
Iran has been engaged for a year in negotiations with France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China directly, and the United States indirectly in the Austrian capital to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). -- AFP
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