Less than 12 hours after Iranian missiles were launched into Iraq, four security vans were parked outside the Iraqi consular residence, a lush, 1.35-acre property backing onto Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated Tuesday night as Iran launched missile strikes into Iraq in an attack that targeted Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers. The residence was quiet throughout the evening.
Reached for comment, two officials from the ambassador’s office said they were unaware of the reason for the security company’s presence this morning and had no knowledge of any increased risk. “I don’t have any idea about that,” said one official, who suggested routine maintenance of security and carbon monoxide sensors as one reason. The office declined to share the ambassador’s schedule for the day.
An employee for Vector Security, the company servicing the home, said the highest available tier of service, called VIP, provides clients with one inspection every two to three years, including a review of all sensors on a property.
The 102-year-old stucco colonial home, known as Beechwoods, has housed two Iraqi ambassadors: Lukman Faily and now Fareed Yasseen, 64, a physicist and former head of policy planning in Iraq’s ministry of foreign affairs. Yasseen arrived in Washington in 2016.
The property last sold for $7.05 million in 2009 by previous owner Franklin Raines, 70, a former Clinton budget director and CEO of Fannie Mae in the years leading up to the financial crisis. In 2008, Raines agreed to pay the government a $24.7 million settlement for his role in an accounting scandal that overstated Fannie Mae’s earnings by as much as $10 billion between 1998 and 2004 in order to trigger executive bonuses. His compensation at the time was more than $90 million, of which $52 million was bonuses tied to earnings.
