Iraq’s parliament, which denounced the drone strike early Friday as a violation of the nation’s sovereignty, asked the government to revoke its 2014 request for foreign military intervention to beat back Islamic State, which had conquered large chunks of the country.
“Confidence has been shaken between Iraq and the U.S.,” outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said in a speech to an emergency session of parliament convened on Sunday to discuss a response to Soleimani’s killing. All 172 legislators present voted for the solution, but nearly 160 mainly Sunni and Kurdish parliamentarians didn’t show up for the vote.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told CBS TV’s Face the Nation that Abdul-Mahdi has resigned “because of massive Iranian interference in his own government’s ability to execute sovereignty and independence for Iraq.” The U.S. mission against Islamic State “is in defense of the Iraqi people and is good for America, too,” Pompeo said.
The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State said it has suspended training and operations against the jihadi group in Iraq, with resources redirected to protecting Iraqi bases that host coalition troops.
Mike Pompeo said that the escalation in Iran that led to the killing of military leader Qasem Soleimani comes from Barack Obama 'appeasing' the country during his time as president.
The U.S. Secretary of State made the rounds today morning political news shows after President Dondald Trump ordered an attack on an Iraqi airport in Baghdad that killed top Iranian military general Soleimani on Friday.
While on CNN's State of the Nation, he said: 'Obama appeased Iran. It is important that they understand that America will no longer behave the way that it did during the Obama/Biden administration. We will no longer appease, we will no longer tolerate." ■
Strike action being taken by members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, employed by the charity Oxfam has been suspended after talks resulted in an improved pay offer being made.