Al Jazeera News :
Iraqi President Barham Salih has said US President Donald Trump did not ask Iraq’s permission for US troops stationed there to “watch Iran”. Salih was responding on Monday to Trump’s comments to US media in which he said American forces would remain at a US base in Iraq to keep a close eye on neighbouring Iran.
The Iraqi leader, speaking at a forum in Baghdad, said US troops in the country are there as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of combating “terrorism” and that any action taken outside that framework is “unacceptable”.
“Don’t overburden Iraq with your own issues,” Salih said. “The US is a major power … but do not pursue your own policy priorities, we live here.”
“It is of fundamental interest for Iraq to have good relations with Iran” and other neighbouring countries, he added. Trump, in his interview with CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, said it was important to keep a US military presence in Iraq so Washington can keep a close eye on Iran “because Iran is a real problem”.
“We spent a fortune on building this incredible base, we might as well keep it. And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran,” he said in an apparent reference to Ayn al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq, which he visited during an unannounced trip to the country in December.
Some of the US troops pulling out of Syria will relocate to American bases in Iraq, he said.
Iraqi President Barham Salih has said US President Donald Trump did not ask Iraq’s permission for US troops stationed there to “watch Iran”. Salih was responding on Monday to Trump’s comments to US media in which he said American forces would remain at a US base in Iraq to keep a close eye on neighbouring Iran.
The Iraqi leader, speaking at a forum in Baghdad, said US troops in the country are there as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of combating “terrorism” and that any action taken outside that framework is “unacceptable”.
“Don’t overburden Iraq with your own issues,” Salih said. “The US is a major power … but do not pursue your own policy priorities, we live here.”
“It is of fundamental interest for Iraq to have good relations with Iran” and other neighbouring countries, he added. Trump, in his interview with CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, said it was important to keep a US military presence in Iraq so Washington can keep a close eye on Iran “because Iran is a real problem”.
“We spent a fortune on building this incredible base, we might as well keep it. And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran,” he said in an apparent reference to Ayn al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq, which he visited during an unannounced trip to the country in December.
Some of the US troops pulling out of Syria will relocate to American bases in Iraq, he said.
