Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Abdul-Mahdi told the US Secretary of State to send a delegation to Iraq that would prepare a mechanism for the withdrawal of US troops from that country, according to a statement published today.
In the announcement of the transitional Iraqi Prime Minister, it is stated that the request was made last night, in a telephone conversation between Abdul-Mahdi and the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Pompeo is said to have called the Iraqi prime minister.
The statement suggests that Abdul-Mahdi stands by his earlier statements that US troops should leave Iraq despite recent signs of easing tensions between Tehran and Washington after mutual attacks that brought Iraq to the brink of proxy war.
Tensions eased on Wednesday when US President Donald Trump signaled that Washington would not move towards further escalation.
Iraq's prime minister said his country rejects any violation of its sovereignty, including an Iranian missile attack on US troops in Iraq, as well as a US violation of Iraqi airspace in a drone strike that killed a senior Iranian general last week.
The Iraqi Prime Minister called on Pompeo to send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism for implementing the Iraqi Parliament's resolution on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq, according to the statement.
"The prime minister said that US forces have entered Iraq and drones are flying in Iraqi airspace without the permission of the Iraqi authorities, which is a violation of bilateral agreements," the statement said.
Senior US military officials have said they are not planning a US withdrawal from Iraq.
Iraqi parliamentarians passed a non-binding resolution on the need for US forces to leave after last Friday's attack, in which Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi commander of the paramilitary group Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in Iraq.
The latest escalation began when a rocket attack blamed on the pro-Iranian paramilitary group Kataeb Hezbollah, also known as the Hezbollah Brigades, killed an American subcontractor at a military base in Kirkuk province. The USA retaliated with a series of attacks on the bases of that paramilitary group and killed 25 of its members.
Bonus video:
