• When Soleimani threatened Trump: "We are closer to you than you think"
  • Iran, thousands in the funeral procession for General Soleimani
  • Iraq, attack on the embassy. Trump threatens: Iran will pay dearly

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January 06, 2020 The U.S. President, Donald Trump, has threatened to enact heavy sanctions against Iraq if US troops are expelled from the country. "We have an extraordinarily expensive air base there. Building it cost billions of dollars, long before I did. We won't leave unless they pay us back," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. If Iraq asks US forces to leave, "we will bring sanctions against them as they have never seen them before, which in comparison will seem soft to Iran," he added.

The Trump administration has unsuccessfully attempted to stop the Iraqi parliament from voting for the expulsion of American forces from Iraq. According to Washington, the decision would open the doors to Iran. This was reported by the Axios news site, citing two sources from the American administration and the Iraqi government. "I think it would be a problem for us, but catastrophic for Iraq," said a source.

The Iraqi Parliament, in the extraordinary session convened yesterday after the US raid in which the Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani was killed, urged the government to "end the presence of foreign troops" in Iraq, starting with "withdrawing his request for assistance "to the international community to fight Isis. During the extraordinary session, broadcast live on state television and in the presence of the resigning premier Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the deputies approved a resolution that "obliges the government to preserve the country's sovereignty by withdrawing its call for help," he said. the head of parliament, Mohammed al-Halboussi. The resolution specifically calls for an end to an agreement that Washington sends troops to Iraq for over four years to support the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group. The text was approved by most Shi'ite members of Parliament, who hold the majority of seats. Many Sunni and Kurdish deputies did not appear in the courtroom, apparently because they opposed the revocation of the agreement.

Earlier, the Iraqi foreign ministry had summoned the American envoy to Baghdad to protest the "violation of sovereignty" represented by the US raid in which the Iranian commander Soleimani and Mohandis was killed two days ago as head of one of the militias. pro-Iranian Iraqis, integrated into the regular army. The ministry said so.