NEWSPAPER: BIDEN WILL DEMAND FROM SUDANESE TO END IRAN’S INFLUENCE AND LIMIT THE ACTIVITY OF ITS ARMS IN IRAQ
The Iranian threat will overshadow the discussions of the Iraqi Prime Minister when he visits Washington and meets with US President Joe Biden, on April 15.
While the Iraqi delegation, headed by Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, prepares to pack its bags early next week, the region awaits the situation to explode if Tehran fulfills its promise to retaliate for the bombing of its consulate in Syria on April 1.
Al-Sudani will focus in Washington on the file of “security cooperation and the state of the international coalition forces to fight ISIS,” and will devote “a major part of the visit to the dollar file and the American sanctions on Iraqi banks,” as an Iraqi government source says.
Major General Yahya Rasul Abdullah, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said on Tuesday evening that the Iraqi Military Committee and its counterpart affiliated with the International Coalition had agreed to “establish a stable security partnership with the United States.”
A statement from the committee said, “The United States will contribute to raising the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces and working to develop them. “This enhances the stability and security of Iraq and the region.”
The source indicated, “Biden will speak with Al-Sudani about “Iran’s role in Iraq and limiting the activity of its arms,” and it is likely that he will “also discuss Iraq’s role in stopping the Iranian escalation against the backdrop of the bombing of the consulate.”
On Thursday, Reuters reported from an informed source that the US envoy to the Middle East, Brett McGurk, called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq, to ask them to deliver a message to Iran urging it to reduce tension with Israel, and they did so.
It does not appear that the Iranian response will include Iraqi territory, nor American interests there, as two Shiite sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat.
According to the sources, “the pro-Iranian factions will not again open the arena of confrontation with the Americans,” and they spoke of a “concluded agreement” between the leaders of these groups regarding the recent escalation between Iran and Israel.
Even today, the political forces and pro-Iranian factions avoid dealing with the “Iranian revenge” issue, as is the norm whenever Iran engages in regional tension.
The political interest of these forces was focused on Al-Sudani’s visit to Washington, and while many expressed their support for the government’s efforts, the head of the “Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq” movement, Qais Al-Khazali, said that “there is no room for these forces to remain,” addressing them: “And if you do not learn and understand this message, Then there is the full justification for resisting this illegitimate and illegal presence by all means, most notably military operations,” he added, adding that “the American exit is inevitable.”
During the past week, the government extinguished three inflammatory files, before Al-Sudani traveled to Washington.
While the government is controlling the factions’ truce with the Americans until today, it decided to disburse more than 400 billion dinars in salaries to employees of the Kurdistan region, which it said it had already received.
During the past week, US Ambassador Alina Romanowski traveled between Baghdad and Erbil, to reach understandings between the two parties with political and governmental leaders on controversial issues between the two parties.
Finally, Al-Sudani resolved one of the files that worried the Americans, when he invited Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako to return to his ecclesiastical headquarters in Baghdad.
The Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world announced, on Thursday, the return of its leader Sako to his headquarters at the invitation of Al-Sudani, after he had transferred his authority to Erbil, in protest against a crisis with the President of the Republic. The President issued a decision to withdraw the Republican decree appointing Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the world.
With the resolution of these files, Sudanese’s path to the White House will be facilitated, as described by a leader in the “coordination framework,” but he pointed out that “failing to achieve gains from Washington as wanted by Shiite party leaders may mean the return of tension again.”