'US State Department to cut Iraq-based personnel by third'

The US State Department reportedly plans to significantly and permanently draw down the number of its personnel in Iraq.

The CNN reported Wednesday that it had obtained a memo sent in early December by the State Department to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, outlining the plan to cut the number of its Iraq-based staffers by 28% by the end of May 2020.

The reduction would mean 114 fewer people at the US Embassy in Baghdad, 15 fewer people at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, and eight fewer people at Consulate General in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, the report said.

The cuts would also include Defense Department and US Agency for International Development personnel, the report added.

The diplomatic mission, the memo said, would still be able to achieve its “core objectives” despite the drawdown.

The reported plan comes amid ongoing US attempts to accuse Iran of trying to target its interests in the Arab country.

Back in May, the State Department, in a travel advisory, ordered “non-emergency US government employees” to leave the Baghdad embassy and the consulate in Erbil.

Rejecting the claims back then, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations said that Washington’s measure was “the latest episode in America's propaganda war against Iran based on fake intelligence reports.”

ME