Biden, Iraq leader discuss Mideast
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Monday hailed the “unprecedented military effort to defend Israel” on Monday as he hosted Iraq’s leader at the White House and his administration aims to prevent an escalation in Mideast hostilities after Iran’s weekend attack.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was visiting the White House for talks intended to focus primarily on U.S.-Iraq relations, which had been scheduled well before the Iranian strikes. But Saturday’s drone and missile launches, including some that overflew Iraqi airspace and others that were launched from Iraq by Iran-backed groups, have underscored the delicate relationship between Washington and Baghdad.
The sharp increase in regional tensions over Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip and the weekend developments have raised further questions about the viability of the two-decade American military presence in Iraq. However, a U.S. Patriot battery in Irbil, Iraq, did shoot down at least one Iranian ballistic missile, according to American officials, one of dozens of missiles and drones destroyed by U.S. forces alongside Israeli efforts to repel the attack.
Speaking at the start of the Oval Office meeting, Biden reinforced that the U.S. remains “committed to Israel’s security.”
“Our partnership is pivotal for our nations, the Middle East and the world,” Biden told Al-Sudani, as the Iraqi leader noted the discussion comes at a “sensitive time.”
Meeting with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Tamim before Biden’s session with Al-Sudani, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the U.S. was urging all parties to avoid escalation.
“In the 36 hours since, we have been coordinating a diplomatic response to seek to prevent escalation,” he said. “Strength and wisdom need to be different sides of the same coin.”
Tamim said the Iraqi government was equally concerned.
“The Middle East today is living in exceptional circumstances that have repercussions on our nations, and we hope escalations and tensions in the area will end,” he said.
Complicating matters, Iranian proxies have initiated attacks against U.S. interests throughout the region from inside Iraq. Those ongoing strikes have made U.S.-Iraq discussions about regional stability and future U.S. troop deployments all the more critical.
Monday’s talks would also focus on economic, trade and energy issues that have become a major priority for Iraq’s government. Biden praised Al-Sudani for strengthening Iraq’s economy.
The Iraqi leader also pressed Biden on working to bring a swift end to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its seventh month, saying the economic dialogue couldn’t ignore the humanitarian needs in the region. Biden, for his part, said the U.S. was “committed to a cease-fire that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conf lict from spreading.”
The U.S. and Iraq began formal talks in January about ending the coalition created to help the Iraqi government fight the extremist group Islamic State, with about 2,000 U.S. troops remaining in the country under an agreement with Baghdad. Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of those forces.
The two countries have a delicate relationship due in part to Iran’s considerable sway in Iraq, where a coalition of Iran-backed groups propeled Al-Sudani to power in October 2022.
The U.S. in recent months has urged Iraq to do more to prevent attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria that have further roiled the Middle East in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Iran’s weekend attacks on Israel through Iraqi airspace have further underscored U.S. concerns, although Al-Sudani had already left Baghdad for Washington when the drones and missiles were launched.
The U.S. has also sought to apply financial pressure over Baghdad’s ties with Tehran, restricting Iraq’s access to its own dollars in an effort to stamp out money laundering said to benefit Iran and Syria.
Most previous Iraqi prime ministers have visited Washington earlier in their tenure. Al-Sudani’s visit was delayed because of U.S.-Iran tensions and regional hostilities, including the Gaza war and the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan in a drone attack in late January. That was followed by a U.S. strike that killed a leader in the Kataib Hezbollah militia whom Washington accused of planning and participating in attacks on U.S. troops.
Al-Sudani has attempted to maintain a balancing act between Iran and the U.S. despite being seen as being close to Tehran and despite several incidents that have put his government in an embarrassing position in relation to Washington.
Early in his term, a U.S. citizen, Stephen Edward Troell, was shot and killed by armed men who accosted him as he pulled up to the street where he lived in Baghdad’s central Karada district with his family. An Iraqi criminal court convicted five men in August and sentenced them to life in prison in the case, which officials described as a kidnapping gone wrong.
A few months later, Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli Russian doctoral student at Princeton, was kidnapped while doing research in Iraq. She is believed to be held by Kataib Hezbollah. A senior U.S. official said Tsurkov’s case would also be raised during Al-Sudani’s visit.
Al-Sudani promised to focus on economic development and fight corruption, but his government has faced economic difficulties, including a discrepancy in the official and market exchange rates between the Iraqi dinar and the U.S. dollar.
The currency issues resulted in part from a U.S. tightening of the dollar supply to Iraq, as part of a crackdown on money laundering and smuggling of funds to Iran.