Washington – (AFP) – A high-ranking official said that the United States is looking for “concrete measures” from Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi to distance the country from pro-Iranian armed groups before resuming financial and security aid.
The “Coordinating Framework,” a political alliance that includes parties close to Iran and has the largest bloc in Parliament, assigned Al-Zaidi to form the next government, instead of Nouri al-Maliki. The president-designate received a phone call from President Donald Trump, who had threatened to cut off all forms of American support if Al-Maliki returned to the position of prime minister.
But a senior official in the US State Department said on Tuesday, requesting anonymity, that Al-Zaidi must clarify the “unclear dividing line” between the Iraqi state and the pro-Iranian groups.
Washington has suspended cash payments for oil revenues, which were handled by the Federal Reserve in New York under an agreement dating back to after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, in addition to suspending security aid against the backdrop of a series of attacks on American interests following the outbreak of war in the Middle East with a US-Israeli attack on Iran.
The official stressed that “resuming full support requires first expelling terrorist militias from all state institutions, cutting off their support from the Iraqi budget, and preventing the payment of salaries to their fighters.”
He added, “These are the concrete measures that will give us confidence and confirm the existence of a new mentality.”
The official stated that American facilities in Iraq were subjected to more than 600 attacks after the outbreak of war on February 28. The attacks have stopped since the ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran on April 8, with the exception of Iranian strikes in the Kurdistan region.
The official said, “I do not underestimate the seriousness of the challenge or what it will take to untangle these relations. It may begin with a clear and unequivocal political statement that terrorist militias are not part of the Iraqi state,” considering that some parties of the Iraqi state “still… provide political, financial, and operational cover for these terrorist militias.”
In January, the “coordination framework” announced Al-Maliki’s nomination to form the government, succeeding Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani. However, Washington threatened to stop supporting Baghdad if Al-Maliki returns to the position he held for two terms between 2006 and 2014. His relations with Washington cooled during his second term, while they strengthened with Tehran.
Attacks claimed by armed factions in Iraq targeted the US embassy in Baghdad, its diplomatic and logistical headquarters at the capital’s airport, and oil fields managed by foreign companies.
Most of the Iraqi armed groups allied themselves within the framework of the “Popular Mobilization Forces,” which was established in 2014 to fight ISIS, before it became part of the Iraqi military establishment and became affiliated with the armed forces. However, this body also includes brigades affiliated with factions allied with Iran that move independently.
