US orders non-emergency embassy staff to leave Baghdad, Arbil

WASHINGTON, DC: The United States yesterday ordered all nonemergency staff to leave its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Arbil, as tensions mount between the US and Iraq’s neighbour Iran.

Washington has ramped up pressure on Teheran in recent days, accusing Iran of planning “imminent” attacks in the region, and bolstering the American military presence in the Gulf.

A State Department advisory announcing the partial embassy closures warned of numerous terrorist and insurgent groups active in Iraq, including “anti-US sectarian militias” who could “threaten US citizens and Western companies throughout Iraq”.

The US last year shut its consulate in the protest-hit southern Iraqi city of Basra, blaming “indirect fire” by Iran-backed forces.

Tensions have escalated between arch-rivals Washington and Teheran since President Donald Trump withdrew last May from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — who has made rolling back Iranian influence in the region a top priority — last week paid a surprise trip to Baghdad in a move to bolster ties with Iraq.

Ruled by Shia clerics, Iran has a strong influence in Iraq, especially in the country’s Shia-majority south.

Pompeo said he had made the trip because Iranian forces were “escalating their activity” and said the threat of attacks were “very specific”. He met Iraq President Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, and spoke to them “about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it’s able to adequately protect Americans in their country”.

Diplomatic security is a key priority for the United States and Pompeo, who as a congressman went on the offensive against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton over a deadly attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Blasts involving improvised explosive devices occur in many areas of Iraq, including the capital Baghdad, the advisory warned, adding that normal visa services would be suspended. Arbil is the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital, in northern Iraq.