ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Mark Savaya, the US special envoy to Iraq, on Thursday stated that armed groups operating outside state authority have no place in Iraq, calling for a unified Iraqi security structure under a sovereign government.

“The United States Government has made it clear that there is no place for armed groups operating outside the authority of the state,” Savaya said in a statement, noting that Iraq’s stability is dependent on “having unified security forces under the command of a single government.”

The envoy emphasized Iraq’s importance as a sovereign entity in the region that is “free from malign external interference, including from Iran and its proxies.”

In line with this objective, Savaya urged “unity and cooperation between Iraq’s federal and regional authorities” as an essential step to ensure security and “national cohesion.”

The US has ramped up efforts to curb Iranian influence in Iraq, and limit the expanding role of Iran-backed Shiite armed groups in the country who enjoy a similar level of governance and authority as the state forces.

Earlier in October, the US sanctioned Muhandis General Company and several Iraqi bank executives, accusing them of laundering money for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

In August, Tehran and Baghdad signed a joint security memorandum of understanding (MoU) “concerning security coordination along the shared borders between the two countries.”

The agreement was strongly condemned by Washington which saw the move as a threat to Iraq’s sovereignty and Iran’s increasing influence over the region, claiming that the step “would turn Iraq into an Iranian satellite state.”

Washington’s concerns are often dismissed by Iraqi authorities who claim that Baghdad’s cooperation with Tehran is based on Iraq’s national interests and is an extension of the country making decisions as an independent sovereign state.

The US has also strongly opposed a bill in the Iraqi parliament which seeks to organize the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) similarly to other Iraqi state security and military agencies, saying the draft law undermines Iraqi sovereignty and risks increasing Iranian influence in the country.

Savaya, a Chaldean of Iraqi descent, is an entrepreneur and business man in Detroit, who was appointed as US special envoy to Iraq by US President Donald Trump on October 19.