Threat from Iran to US forces in Iraq remains significant: Key official

WASHINGTON • Iran-backed militias still pose a "significant" threat to US forces in Iraq, the State Department's top diplomat for the Middle East said on Thursday, about a week after US President Donald Trump warned of an attack by Iran or its proxies.

Mr David Schenker, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, gave no details of the threat, but told reporters in a teleconference: "It continues to be significant."

Iran-backed paramilitary groups have been shelling bases in Iraq that host United States forces, and the area around the US embassy in Baghdad. On Monday, three Katyusha rockets landed near a district in southern Iraq that houses workers for foreign oil firms. No casualties or damage were reported.

Last week, Mr Trump said Iran or its proxies were planning a sneak attack on US targets in Iraq, and warned they would pay a "very heavy price" but he gave no details.

US-Iranian ties have been bitter since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. While there was a detente with the 2015 nuclear deal, relations have deteriorated with Mr Trump's decision nearly two years ago to abandon that agreement and reimpose US sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Tensions worsened after a Jan 3 US drone strike in Iraq killed Iran's elite Quds Force head Qassem Soleimani.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US has proposed a "strategic dialogue" with Iraq to be held in June, in a bid to restore strained bilateral ties.

Mr Schenker, who last month said Washington was "enormously disappointed" by Iraq's performance in protecting US-led coalition forces, repeated the US' concerns. "It is on the Iraqis - if they value that relationship - to take certain steps and that includes providing protection to the coalition forces who are in Iraq, " he said.

On Thursday, intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi was named Iraq's prime minister-designate, the third person tapped to lead the country in just 10 weeks as it struggles to replace a government that fell last year.

Mr Schenker said: "If Kadhimi is an Iraqi nationalist, dedicated to pursuing a sovereign Iraq, if he is committed to fighting corruption, this would be great for Iraq, and we think it would be great for our bilateral relationship."

REUTERS