Mike Pompeo visits Iraq amid rising tensions with Iran

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian and agencies

Mike Pompeo visits Iraq amid rising tensions with Iran

Secretary of state abruptly pulls out of Berlin meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor and agencies
Tue 7 May 2019 23.18 BST First published on Tue 7 May 2019 15.07 BST

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has abruptly cancelled a long-established plan to hold talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin on Tuesday, and instead traveled to Iraq to show US support for the Iraqi government during rising tensions with Iran.

The unusual last-minute schedule change follows brief talks between Pompeo and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting in Finland on Monday.

Pompeo rang the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, to explain the decision to drop his first meeting in Berlin as secretary of state and promised to reschedule soon.

Norbert Röttgen, the chair of the German foreign affairs committee, described the cancellation as “very regrettable”.

He said: “There is a lot to discuss about common challenges, but also about the internal relationship between Germany and the US. Even if there were unavoidable reasons for the cancellation, it unfortunately fits into the current climate in the relationship of the two governments.”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/mike-pompeo-cancels-angela-merkel-talks-over-international-security-issues

[Chin music]

1. This is why impeachment hearings should've started already.

They will kill Americans in a non-war to cover trump.

[CentralMass]

2. What could possibly go wrong ?

[Ghost Dog]

3. Agencies... "to show US support for the Iraqi government"...

Last edited Tue May 7, 2019, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Surely that should read: To threaten the Iraqi government as the US ratchets up its threats against Iran.

Edit: Via Reuters:

“I wanted to go to Baghdad to speak with the leadership there, to assure them that we stood ready to continue to ensure that Iraq is a sovereign, independent nation,” Pompeo told reporters en route to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Asked if there was a threat to the Baghdad government from Iran that raised U.S. concerns about Iraqi sovereignty, Pompeo said, “No, no, generally this has been our position since the national security strategy came out in the beginning of the Trump administration.”