Washington warns of shutting its embassy in Iraq; Fear of war looms large

Baghdad

rn

Escalating tensions of a War in Iraq, The United States warned of shutting its embassy and withdraw its diplomats from Iraq. Washington had already blamed Iran-backed troops of launching rockets against its embassy and made it clear that such a move is not only a danger for US diplomats but also for the government of Iraq.

rn

The US has about 5,000 troops on operation in Iraq and the move to withdraw officials is widely seen as a chance of Iraq to be a battleground between Iran-backed forces and the US.

rn

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to close the embassy in a phone call a week ago to President Barham Salih, Reuters quoted two Iraqi government sources as saying.

rn

It is learned that Washington had begun preparations to withdraw diplomatic staff by Sunday. Populist Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who commands a following of millions of Iraqis, issued a statement last week pleading for groups to avoid an escalation that would turn Iraq into a battleground. Iraq is a country that has close ties with the United States as well as Iran. But now it has a perennial risk of becoming a battleground in a proxy war.

rn

The tension started to mount January this year, when Washington killed Iran's most important military commander, Qassem Soleimani, with a drone strike at Baghdad airport to which Iran responded with missiles aimed at U.S. bases in Iraq.