Iran, US warned against involving Iraq in conflict

BAGHDAD,: Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr has warned Iran and the US against involving Baghdad in their conflict.

"Iraq has become a victim to the US-Iranian conflict and has been greatly affected as if it is an arena for their conflicts," Xinhua news agency quoted al-Sadr as saying in a statement posted on Twitter on Friday.

"Therefore, I call on Iran to distance Iraq from its conflict, and I warn the (US) occupier against continuing its conflict. Iraq and the Iraqis are not a party to the conflict," he added.

Baghdad-Washington relations have been strained since January 3 when an American drone struck a convoy at the Baghdad airport, killing Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

Two days after the drone attack, the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution that requires the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country.

Following the resolution, US President Donald Trump, after an initial refusal, began the withdrawal the troops since March.

The US-led coalition have also started the transfer of military bases back to Iraqi security forces. (IANS)

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