Abdullah Salam - Baghdad

It is widely feared that if the United States closes its embassy in Baghdad, it will be followed by strikes targeting the Iraqi armed factions, most of which are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, as well as the possibility of an escalation of the confrontation between America and Iran on Iraqi soil.

Among those who warn about this is The Washington Post, in a recent article by the writer specializing in foreign affairs David Ignacius, in which he revealed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned - in a private meeting - Iraqi officials that Washington will close its embassy in Baghdad if it does not move to stop Iranian-backed militia attacks on the compound housing the embassy building.

In turn, that opens the door to dangerous repercussions that may occur on the Iraqi arena, especially with political forces sticking to the parliament’s decision to remove American forces from Iraq, which came last January in response to America’s killing of the Iranian Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, And the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority in Iraq, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.

Al-Ani warned that closing the US embassy would lead to political isolation in Iraq (Al-Jazeera Net)

Siege versus victory

In this regard, Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Zafer Al-Ani, warned that closing the US embassy - if implemented - would lead to political isolation in Iraq.

Al-Ani added in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the situation will go beyond that to retaliatory strikes from America against militia leaders and headquarters, as well as stopping security and military cooperation and economic and financial sanctions.

On the other hand, the leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces, spokesman for the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, Sheikh Kazem al-Fartousi, said that the resistance factions respect the presence of missions and do not see an interest in attacking them, pointing at the same time to the legitimacy of targeting the military presence, which is considered "a legitimate right, and differs from targeting missions that are considered a mistake." red".

With regard to the most prominent repercussions of closing the embassy on the security and economic side, Fartousi said - in an interview with Al Jazeera Net - that Iraq is currently going through its worst situation, and it is not logical to fear the loans that America provides to Iraq in exchange for the benefits, in addition to that any targeting may affect the crowd - who is going. By orders of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces - without any reaction from the government, it will be indicated as "rented".

He said that hinting at the closure of the US embassy and exerting pressure on the rest of the embassies to move in the same direction only prove bad intent.

Al-Fartousi pointed out that the US embassy was moved a year ago to Erbil Governorate (in the Kurdistan region of Iraq) in the north of the country, considering that there are doubts that the targeting of missions in Baghdad is already linked to parties related to the US embassy, ​​to justify its measures against the resistance factions.

Al-Shammari considered that the closure of the American embassy could lead to internal divisions (Al-Jazeera Net)

Divisions

For his part, political analyst Ihssan Al-Shammari said - in a call with Al-Jazeera Net - that the closure of the embassy will lead to an internal political division between forces that reject the closure and others that welcome it, as well as stopping support for Iraq, whether from America or the Arab system.

He added that the issuance of warnings at this time related to the US elections, and US President Donald Trump's fear that the card targeting the US embassy and US interests in Iraq would be used against him, which prompted him to send solid messages in several directions, including to the armed factions, and also to the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa. Al-Kazemi, with the aim of pushing and motivating him to stop those attacks that have become bothering the Americans.

Nevertheless, Al-Shammari ruled out the possibility of turning into an open state of war between the two parties to the conflict, or Iran's attempt to lure America into a clash, considering that the matter may be limited to wrangling, because Iran is certain that Washington will not hesitate to use its power at any moment it may feel that There is a threat to its interests.

He believed that the closure of the embassy would negatively affect Al-Kazemi and his government, and would lose his position before the people and put him before the option of confrontation, which appears until now to be a deferred option in his accounts.

The Iraqi position

And Ahmed Mulla Talal, the spokesman for the Prime Minister, said yesterday that the withdrawal or closure of any diplomatic mission for any country will have catastrophic repercussions on the entire region, indicating that the decision of war and peace is the exclusive prerogative of the Iraqi constitutional institutions, stressing that there is no occupation In the country now, and that the coalition forces came at the request of the previous Iraqi governments.

pic.twitter.com/WPtXC1Srud

- Muqtada al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr (@Mu_AlSadr) September 28, 2020

While the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, said - in a statement - that the continued bombing of diplomatic missions is a weakening of Iraq, and he also called on the Iraqi government to form a security, military and parliamentary investigation committee to find out the factions that carry out these attacks and hold them accountable.

While the Secretary-General of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq Movement, Qais Khazali, said - in a statement last Sunday - that there is no targeting of diplomatic missions in Iraq, and the incident is targeting the American embassy, ​​which is the embassy of an occupying country in Iraq, stressing at the same time that there is no interest in targeting it now because that is It may be used to undermine the prestige of the Iraqi state.