Even the debate has closed it. Washington rejects Iraqi calls to withdraw its forces

Washington has rejected calls from Baghdad to withdraw US forces from Iraqi territory, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that it is only possible to discuss the "appropriate structure" for those forces in Iraq.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Artagos said Friday in a statement that any delegation that the United States will send to Iraq will not discuss the withdrawal of American forces "but rather the proper and appropriate status of our forces in the Middle East."

But she added, "There is a need for dialogue between the US and Iraqi governments, not only regarding security, but about our financial, economic and diplomatic partnership."

Ortagos stressed that the US military presence in Iraq will continue to fight the Islamic State and protect Americans, Iraqis and US partners, according to its statement.

"Appropriate structure"
In the same vein, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a press briefing about the new US sanctions against Iran that he was pleased to "continue the discussion with the Iraqis about the appropriate structure" of the American forces in Iraq.

The American statements came hours after the head of the Iraqi caretaker government, Adel Abdul Mahdi, asked US Secretary Pompeo to send delegates to put mechanisms in place to implement the decision of the Iraqi parliament to implement a safe withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

The media office of the caretaker head said that Abdul-Mahdi, during a call with Pompeo, expressed his rejection of all operations that violate the sovereignty of Iraq, including the recent Iranian operation that targeted Ein al-Assad bases in Anbar and Harir in Arbil.

The media office added that Abdul-Mahdi told the US Secretary of State that there are American forces entering Iraq and drones flying in his sky without permission from the government.

The Iraqi parliament, in a session held last Sunday, issued a decision with the approval of the majority of the attendees, in which it demanded the government to end the presence of any foreign forces on Iraqi soil and prevent it from using its airspace for any reason.

US President Donald Trump threatened, after the Iraqi parliament’s decision, to impose sanctions on Iraq if US forces were forced to leave, adding that if his forces left, Baghdad would have to pay Washington the cost of an air base there.

Negotiations with NATO
On the other hand, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that a team from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is visiting the United States at the present time in order to develop a burden-sharing plan in the region, as he put it.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that the alliance is actually looking at what it can do in the Middle East to combat terrorism, but he added that the matter needs a consensus among the Alliance countries and an agreement with the countries of the region, and it needs time not short.

US President Donald Trump has called for NATO to expand to include countries in the Middle East.

German Foreign Minister Haikou Maas criticized Trump's invitation, saying that "NATO is not the appropriate institution to expand participation in the Near East and the Middle East, the European Union has an advantage compared to NATO." He pointed out that most of the European Union countries are members of the international coalition against the Islamic State.

The United States killed the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, in a raid by a drone plane near Baghdad airport on January 3, and Iran responded after only a few days by firing missiles at two bases hosting American forces in Iraq.

These developments are the most dangerous escalation of tension between the United States and Iran, and have raised fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.

Condemnation of the violation of sovereignty
On Friday, the Supreme Shiite cleric in Iraq, Ali Sistani, condemned the attacks exchanged by the United States and Iran on Iraqi soil, and warned by his special representative, Ahmed Al-Safi - who delivered Friday sermon in Karbala - of the deterioration of security in the country and the region as a result of the confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

Al-Sistani said that these attacks violate the sovereignty of Iraq, and that external forces should not be allowed to determine the fate of the country, stressing that Iraq should be ruled by its own children, not strangers.

In the same context, the Al-Jazeera correspondent said that Iraq, in a letter to the UN Security Council, expressed its rejection of what it described as an Iranian violation of its sovereignty, and called for denouncing the violations of its sovereignty and its involvement in conflicts.