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THE US HAS ordered all non-emergency staff to leave its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Arbil.
The move comes as tensions mount between the United States and Iraq’s neighbour Iran.
Washington has ramped up pressure on Tehran in recent days, accusing Iran of planning “imminent” attacks in the region. It has also bolstered the American military presence in the Gulf.
A State Department advisory announcing the partial embassy closures warned of numerous terrorist and insurgent groups active in Iraq, including “anti-US sectarian militias” who could “threaten US citizens and Western companies throughout Iraq”.
The US last year shut its consulate in the protest-hit southern Iraqi city of Basra, blaming “indirect fire” by Iran-backed forces.
Tensions have sharply escalated between arch-rivals Washington and Tehran since US President Donald Trump withdrew last May from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – who has made rolling back Iranian influence in the region a top priority – last week paid a surprise trip to Baghdad in a move to bolster ties with Iraq.
Ruled by Shiite clerics, Iran has a strong influence in Iraq, especially in the country’s Shiite-majority south.
Pompeo told reporters he had made the trip because Iranian forces are “escalating their activity” and said the threat of attacks were “very specific”.
The top US envoy met with Iraq President Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, and spoke to them “about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it’s able to adequately protect Americans in their country”.
Diplomatic security is a key priority for the United States and Pompeo, who as a congressman went on the offensive against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton over a deadly attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
Blasts involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) occur in many areas of Iraq, including the capital Baghdad, the advisory warned, adding that normal visa services would be suspended. Arbil is the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital, in northern Iraq.
‘Unrelenting force’
Since pulling out of the Iran deal, the Trump administration has ramped up menacing rhetoric against Iran while tightening economic sanctions on the country.
National Security Advisor John Bolton warned Iran that Washington would respond with “unrelenting force” to any attack by Tehran, including by its regional allies.
The Pentagon said last week it was sending several massive, nuclear-capable B-52s to the region in response to indications of an alleged plan by “Iranian and Iranian proxy forces” to attack US forces.
The US move comes in response to intelligence about a threat orchestrated by Iran, officials said, but details of the threat have not been disclosed.
Skepticism
US signals about escalating danger posed by Iran have been met with some skepticism by Washington’s allies.
A British general said yesterday there had been “no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria”.
The comments by Major General Chris Ghika, a British spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the coalition fighting the Islamic State group, drew a sharp retort from US Central Command.
Both Pompeo and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have this week played down fears that their countries were headed for conflict.
“We fundamentally do not seek a war with Iran,” Pompeo said during a visit to Russia, a key backer of Tehran which has blamed the current crisis on Washington’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Khamenei told Iranian officials the stand-off “is not military because there is not going to be any war”.
“Neither we nor them (the US) seek war. They know it will not be in their interest,” he said, quoted on his website.
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Expect plenty more revelations.
ABP is a common name popping up a lot
Looking forward to the rest of the DNeigh results as they come in…
Just hearing some horses that died in Aintree were sold as beef shocking
I’m doing a sub-four -minute mile. Shergar DNA
Monaghan just up the road from me. Usually were Very good NEIGHbours until now.
I hope all these products with horse meat in them aren’t just being thrown away. There is nothing wrong with horse meat the only problem with the whole thing is that they didn’t tell us that the products contain horse meat. There are plenty of starving people that would gladly take horse meat burgers.
Stupid question…doesn’t horse cost more than cows?
Apparently not
I doubt it’s the 100% healthy ones that are ending up in the slaughterhouse.
We’re not eating racing stallions.
the price per kilo of beef paid to the farmer is 4.00- 4.50 per kilo carcass weight …….. I was talking to a farmer the other day and he told me that they just get paid for the carcass…they do not get paid for the organs or the hide (leather) ….
the price of horsemeat is .90 per kilo………..
The farmer was telling me that in Ireland that because of the new regulations being brought in with regard to horse ownership that certain people who own a lot of horses have been selling them to knackers (the correct term i.e. buyers of worn-out or unwanted horses ).
He maintained that you can buy anything from five to ten horses for the price of a cow and that in some cases people who can no longer afford to keep horses are giving them away !
have your say