President Trump’s administration reportedly tried and failed to stop a vote in the Iraqi parliament on expelling American troops from the country.
Two U.S. officials and an Iraqi government official familiar with the situation told Axios in a report published Sunday that Trump officials attempted to persuade their Iraqi counterparts to kill a parliamentary effort to force the U.S. military out of the nation.
Lawmakers in Iraq, however, voted that day to expel U.S. forces after American airstrikes on Iran-backed facilities in the nation and the Trump-ordered killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week. The nonbinding resolution requests that all U.S. troops be removed from Iraq, where there are nearly 5,000 on the ground.
“I think it would be inconvenient for us, but it would be catastrophic for Iraq,” an American official said of the decision. “It’s our concern that Iraq would take a short-term decision that would have catastrophic long-term implications for the country and its security.”
The official continued, “But it’s also, what would happen to them financially if they allowed Iran to take advantage of their economy to such an extent that they would fall under the sanctions that are on Iran?”
A senior Iraqi official said many Kurdish and Sunni members of parliament, who are more supportive of the American presence in Iraq, did not attend the vote.
“This is a temporary victory for the parties which are pro-Iranian,” said the official. “But it’s also a clear message from the Sunnis and from the Kurds [who didn’t vote] and from some Iraqi Shia for the Americans to tell them we want you to stay in Iraq.”
It is unclear if and when U.S. forces will need to leave the region, as State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Trump officials are awaiting “further clarification on the legal nature and impact of today’s resolution.”
“We believe it is in the shared interests of the United States and Iraq to continue fighting ISIS together. This administration remains committed to a sovereign, stable, and prosperous Iraq,” she added.
