Opposing ban, Iran keen to preserve US military cooperation against Islamic State

BAGHDAD/MOSUL (Reuters) – Iraq plans to lobby against new restrictions on travel to the United States by Iraqis, arguing the two countries need to preserve their alliance against Islamic State, two members of the Iraqi parliament close to the government said on Sunday.

Dependent on US military aid against ISIS, the Iraqi government has so far declined comment on an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Friday that suspends the entry of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days.

The order stirred angry reactions in Iraq, where more than 5,000 US troops are deployed to help Iraqi and regional Kurdish forces in the war against ISIS insurgents.

Some members of parliament said Iraq should retaliate with similar measures against the United States.

“Iraq is in the front line of the war on terrorism... and it is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way,” parliament’s foreign affairs committee said in a statement.

“We call on the Iraqi government to retaliate for the decision taken by the US administration,” it added after a session on Sunday in Baghdad.

Baghdad plans to lobby Washington to review the decision, according to two lawmakers who declined to be identified.

One of them told Reuters that the government will “explain that Iraq as a sovereign country will be forced to apply similar treatment, and that would affect negatively cooperation, including military cooperation,” in the conflict with ISIS.

Popular Mobilization, a coalition of mainly Shi’ite paramilitary groups armed and trained by Iran to fight Islamic State, urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government to expel US nationals.

Influential Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday American citizens should leave Iraq. “It would be arrogance for you [Americans] to enter Iraq and other countries freely while barring them entrance to your country... and therefore you should get your nationals out,” he said on his website.

The US-led coalition is providing critical air and ground support to Iraqi forces in the ongoing battle to wrest Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, from Islamic State.

Mosul is the last major Iraqi city still under the control of Islamic State.