Iraq maintains close ties to both Iran and the United States and has often found itself caught between them. Now, with its two partners at war, the government in Baghdad is coming under increasing U.S. pressure to choose a side.<\/p>\n
Washington is demanding that Iraq distance itself from Iran and rein in the Iran-linked Iraqi militias that have been behind recent attacks targeting U.S. interests there. In the latest step to force Iraq\u2019s hand, it has suspended U.S. cooperation with and funding for Iraq\u2019s security services, two Iraqi officials said on Monday.<\/p>\n
The State Department declined to comment specifically on the move, but said Washington has demanded the Iraqi government crack down on militias supported by Iran, including some with ties to officials in the Baghdad government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States will not tolerate attacks on U.S. interests and expects the Iraqi government to immediately take all measures to dismantle the Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq,\u201d Tommy Pigott, the State Department deputy spokesman, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The halt to security cooperation includes the suspension of joint counterterrorism actions against groups like the Islamic State, as well as training and other support for Iraq\u2019s military forces.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon did not reply to an earlier request for comment. After this story was posted online, the agency sent a statement saying, \u201cWe continuously evaluate security assistance provided to our allies and partners to ensure it is aligned with U.S. priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that began in late February, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a U.S. base and an airport with U.S. air defenses near an American base in northern Iraq came under attack<\/a>. Iran-backed militias claimed responsibility for several of the attacks, which came after an airstrike hit the headquarters of one of the militias and killed three people.<\/p>\n The militia blamed the airstrike on the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n On April 9, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, summoned the Iraqi ambassador in Washington, Nazar Al Khirullah, to the State Department and condemned recent attacks<\/a>, including an assault the previous day that struck near U.S. diplomats in Baghdad, the State Department said in a statement at the time. The department said on Tuesday that a militia used multiple drones in that attack.<\/p>\n The formation of a new government in Iraq has drawn particular interest from both the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n In January, President Trump threatened<\/a> to withdraw U.S. support for Iraq if Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a leading Shiite politician, returned as the prime minister. Mr. al-Maliki was first elected prime minister in 2006, at the time with U.S. backing. But the relationship soured over his two four-year terms as he was increasingly seen as aligned with Iran.<\/p>\n In response to Mr. Trump\u2019s threat, Mr. al-Maliki said in a social media post<\/a> that Iraqis \u201ccategorically reject this blatant American interference.\u201d<\/p>\n The United States has suspended support for Iraq\u2019s security services until a new government has been formed, Hussein Allawi, a security adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, told The New York Times on Monday. A new government could be formed within days or weeks, though the timing remains uncertain.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cooperation and coordination is something that needs to be continued,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An Iraqi Defense Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said U.S. cooperation and funding had been halted until further notice because of attacks on U.S. interests by the Iran-backed Iraqi militias.<\/p>\n The official added that losing U.S. support would affect logistical support for the Iraqi air force as well as training programs.<\/p>\n Iraq is one of the few Arab states in the Middle East which, like Iran, has a Shiite Muslim majority. The Shiite political parties closest to Iran have become the most powerful factions in the Iraqi government.<\/p>\n Iraqi Shiite militias formed after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 to attack American troops occupying Iraq, and some were trained and armed<\/a> by Iran.<\/p>\n The militias later joined the U.S. led-coalition that fought the Islamic State terrorist group after it took over parts of Iraq, and most of them subsequently came under the formal supervision<\/a> of the country\u2019s national security forces. But a number of the more hard-line groups remained outside of state control and maintained close ties to Iran.<\/p>\n Ramzy Mardini, the founder of Geopol Labs, a geopolitical risk advisory firm based in the Middle East, said Iraqi leaders would risk triggering a state collapse if they moved now to force out the Iran-linked militias that had become intertwined with military, political and economic institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue isn\u2019t simply a lack of willpower or capacity \u2014 it\u2019s that the boundaries of the Iraqi state itself are blurred,\u201d he said. \u201cAmerican coercion, in this case, rests on the flawed assumption that the Iraqi government can act as a unified, autonomous actor,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat exactly constitutes \u2018the state\u2019 in Iraq when independent armed actors are embedded within it? It\u2019s a reality that the Trump administration has repeatedly failed to grasp,\u201d Mr. Mardini said.<\/p>\n In a further sign of strains in the U.S.-Iraqi relationship, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad posted<\/a> a warning on social media on Monday that Iran-backed militias in Iraq were planning attacks on U.S. citizens and other targets connected to the United States. The Embassy reiterated its warning to U.S. citizens against traveling to Iraq and it has suspended all consular services in the country.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, an American journalist was kidnapped<\/a> in Baghdad by an Iraqi militia allied with Iran and freed after a week in captivity. The militia, Kataib Hezbollah, said it had released the journalist, Shelly Kittleson, \u201cin appreciation of the patriotic positions\u201d of Iraq\u2019s prime minister, who had been negotiating for her freedom.<\/p>\n Two senior Iraqi security officials said the April 8 drone attack near a U.S. Embassy delegation escorting Ms. Kittleson during her release angered the Americans, who described it as an ambush. The two officials argued that the attack, inside Baghdad\u2019s international airport, was not targeted at Ms. Kittleson and her escorts.<\/p>\n The suspension of U.S. support came days after a visit to Iraq by Gen. Esmail Ghaani, the commander of Iran\u2019s Quds Force.<\/p>\n