ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Thursday that he departed for the US to meet officials in Washington to “strengthen” bilateral relations between the two countries, amid regional developments, as Baghdad seeks to balance ties with the US and Iran.
“We will hold a series of bilateral meetings to strengthen Iraqi-American relations and coordinate efforts on regional and international issues,” Hussein wrote on X as he left for the US.
He added he would discuss with the Trump administration’s officials "ways to enhance joint security and cooperation in various fields.”
Hussein’s visit to Washington comes a day after he met his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot in Baghdad, emphasizing the need to keep Iraq out of the conflicts in the region.
Hussein said that Baghdad supports the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, calling the negotiations “the only solution to reach peaceful results and understandings.”
Iraq’s proximity and close ties to Iran have rendered the country unable to strike a balance between the US and Iran in terms of international relations, with Baghdad facing mounting pressures from the US to limit its ties to Tehran, including the disarming of Iran-backed militia groups.
In early March, the US declined to renew a sanctions waiver allowing Iraq to buy electricity from Iran as part of President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.
Following the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, and in line with the Security Agreement between the United States and Iraq and the Strategic Framework Agreement for the Operations of US Forces in Iraq signed between the two nations in 2008, American strategy in Iraq has centered on tackling various issues about Iraqi and regional security.
The US played an active role in the military defeat of ISIS and the recapture of most areas it previously controlled in northern and western Iraq by December 2017.
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