MATTIS TO WORRIED IRAQ: NO U.S. PLAN TO SEIZE OIL

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Monday after offering assurances that the United States does not intend to seize the country’s oil.

His comments, made hours before he arrived in Baghdad, may calm Iraqi leaders alarmed by remarks President Trump made about seizing the country’s oil to pay for U.S. military help in the country. Mattis arrived in Iraq just as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched a new offensive to retake the remaining portions of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from Islamic State control.