Iraqi Prime Minister’s office on Saturday said, the United Stated secretary of state Mike Pompeo has assured Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi that the US is and will always stay committed to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria despite of the US plan of withdrawing its troops from those regions.
The US President Donald Trump has on Wednesday, declared that the US will withdraw its total troops from Syria and Iraq, and said they had defeated the Islamic State and now it is time for others to fight them. Trump’s plan received many criticisms from its allies like France and Britain, who still believes that terror had not been yet defeated fully.
According to news reports, in an official statement, Abdul Mahdi’s office wrote: “Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi received a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who explained the details of the upcoming withdrawal from Syria and affirmed the United State is still committed to fight Islamic State and terrorism in Iraq and other areas.”
Mike Pompeo and Abdul Mahdi also discussed about the decision of Washington to grant a waiver for 90 days from its sanctions against the nation Iran in order to allow Iraq continue its import of Iranian gas, which is very essential for Iran to runs its Iraqi power production.
Washington has given Iraq a 45-day waiver in order to import Iranian gas when the US has re-imposed sanctions on Iranian crude oil on November 5. Iraq is heavily dependent on Iran to run its power stations. It roughly imports about 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day.