Iraqi PM: US-led military coalition will ultimately end its 'mission'

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani says the US-led military coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh terrorist group will eventually wind down its presence in the Arab country.

Speaking in an interview with the al-Arabiya television news network, Sudani stated that the Western alliance's mission will end at the Baghdad government's official request.

“The main purpose of winding down the US-led military coalition’s mission is to eliminate all possible pretexts for attacks on its advisors,” he said.

Sudani also censured the US military’s latest airstrikes against positions manned by anti-terror resistance groups in the western part of the country close to the border with Syria, asserting, “Any kind of military attack on the Iraqi territory is unacceptable.”

He said Iraq has not had any contact with the United States following the aerial assaults.

The Iraqi prime minister also noted that the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region is among the issues raised in the course of negotiations between Baghdad and Washington to remove the troops from the country.

“The Iraqi government has come up with a formula, under which the [resistance] groups will stop their [retaliatory] attacks in exchange for the cessation of American offensives,” Sudani explained.

‘Iraq, US must return to dialogue over future of coalition forces’

Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein stressed the need to return to the negotiating table over the future of US-led forces in Iraq.

Hussein, in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, stressed the Iraqi government’s rejection of the latest US airstrikes and such attacks.

He said that “Iraq is not an arena for settling scores between rival countries.”

Hussein also formally demanded the US Treasury Department reconsider the sanctions it had imposed on several Iraqi banks, raising doubts about whether those sanctions were put in place over compliance issues or “other political reasons.”

SS