The date of Al-Sudani's visit to Washington will soon be announced, and Shiite parties will bargain

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[size=52]The date of Al-Sudani's visit to Washington will soon be announced, and Shiite parties will bargain over the dollar issue[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Two officials close to the government confirmed the resolution of the issue of Prime Minister Muhammad al-Sudani's visit to Washington, and the non-expulsion of the American non-combat forces from Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]The two officials revealed the existence of Shiite pressures against Al-Sudani, which coincided with the crisis of the high price of the dollar, while pointing to the country's continued need for US military and political support. A prominent Shiite leader demanded a few days ago that the government remove the US forces “immediately” from the country, then it was reduced to a “scheduled withdrawal,” according to one of the factions represented in Parliament.[/size]
[size=45]The factions and Iran began to escalate against the United States with the third anniversary of the airport incident, which coincided with the expected visit of the Prime Minister to Washington.[/size]
[size=45]An official close to the government said in an interview with (Al-Mada) that "Al-Sudani will go to Washington and announce the visit just around the corner."[/size]
[size=45]The official, who requested anonymity, denied that "one of the items of the expected visit would be to talk about the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]And the official indicated that there are more important issues, such as the electricity file, which Iraq is facing a problem because of the Iranian gas supply, which Washington imposes restrictions on.[/size]
[size=45]At the end of last year, the government revealed its intention to send a high-level delegation to Washington to promote common interests between the two countries and to invest in energy in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]Shiite sources revealed earlier to (Al-Mada) that the American project in Iraq has begun, and that Washington is trying to establish broad partnerships to remove Iranian influence.[/size]
[size=45]And the source, who asked not to be identified, said, "Washington is now monitoring the movement of money in Iraq and preventing the control of the factions, as well as monitoring oil smuggling."[/size]
[size=45]Washington and the government began punitive measures against banks accused of smuggling dollars, and the government announced a few days ago the arrest of a large gang smuggling oil from Basra.[/size]
[size=45]Before the end of last year, the office of Prime Minister Muhammad al-Sudani revealed that the latter had received a phone call from the White House coordinator for Middle East and North Africa affairs, Brett McGurk.[/size]
[size=45]According to the office’s statement last December, McGurk “congratulated the prime minister on his assumption of office, stressing the continued support of the United States for Iraq’s stability, security and sovereignty, and President Biden’s desire to strengthen strategic bilateral relations.”[/size]
[size=45]The Prime Minister stressed, according to the statement, that Iraq is a unified, independent and sovereign state, and the priority of his government is to maintain balanced relations and build economic partnerships across the region and the world.[/size]
[size=45]And the statement continued, "The call witnessed an agreement between the two sides on the importance of continuing efforts to ensure the permanent defeat of ISIS, and supporting Iraq's regional role in building bridges between the countries of the region."[/size]
[size=45]The Prime Minister affirmed his intention to send a delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Washington to promote the common interests of the two countries under the Strategic Framework Agreement. This will include discussing energy investment in Iraq and combating the effects of climate change.[/size]
[size=45]The official close to the government confirms that “Al-Sudani wants to establish a balanced relationship with the United States, and the latter wants to attract the prime minister to reduce Iranian influence.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "But this collides with some Shiite forces that want to control the government, which have been damaged by preventing dollar smuggling to Tehran and punishing banks linked to it inside Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mada revealed that the United States is preparing to penalize at least 16 banks linked to political parties that smuggle between 100 and 250 million dollars every week, most of which goes to Tehran.[/size]
[size=45]Informed sources indicated that Washington has established a platform within the Central Bank of Iraq to monitor the movement of foreign trade and remittances, to which only 20 banks out of more than 80 private banks have so far joined.[/size]
[size=45]And the official close to the government indicated that some Shiite parties seem to be bargaining with "the government to ease restrictions on the dollar in exchange for easing pressure on the United States, such as its raising the issue of withdrawing American forces."[/size]
[size=45]And the previous government of Mustafa Al-Kazemi had announced, at the end of 2021, the end of the combat missions of the American forces in Iraq, while the Shiite forces did not object at the time to the government’s announcement.[/size]
[size=45]In July of that same year, US President Joe Biden confirmed that the United States would end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of this year (2021), with a number of its forces continuing to take over the tasks of training the Iraqi army and providing it with military advice.[/size]
[size=45]Last week, Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Organization, suddenly called for the "immediate" exit of foreign forces from Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Amiri said in a statement on the occasion of the establishment of the army, which coincided with the anniversary of the assassination of the former head of the crowd, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, and the prominent Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, that: “The reality has proven that there is no need for them, for these forces,” calling for “the immediate exit of all foreign combat forces and the achievement of full national sovereignty.” .[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, a member of the Rights Movement - which is the political umbrella of Kataib Hezbollah and has 6 seats in parliament - revealed a parliamentary move to put forward the file of scheduling the US withdrawal from Iraq during the next legislative term.[/size]
[size=45]And media outlets close to the factions quoted a member of the movement, Hussein Al-Karawi, as saying: “The decision to remove the American forces from the country is binding on the government.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Karawi considered that the previous government had “abandoned the expulsion of foreign forces and covered up the crime of assassinating the leaders of victory and the crimes of targeting the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces.”[/size]
[size=45]In the same context, the deputy secretary-general of the Al-Nujaba Movement - one of the factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces - Arkan Al-Kaabi threatened the United States with expelling it with "weapons."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kaabi said, quoting Iranian media, that "the two martyrs, in accordance with the belief of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, in defending the land and sanctities, as our message and our mention of the two commanders, Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, came for the exit of the American forces from Iraq, because America only understands one language, which is force and weapons."[/size]
[size=45]Since the beginning of this year, the factions and Iran have escalated against the United States, while the Iraqi judiciary revealed that it had issued an arrest warrant against former US President Donald Trump in connection with the airport incident.[/size]
[size=45]Meanwhile, another official close to the military leadership reveals, in an interview with (Al-Mada), that “the attacks against embassies and camps stopped about 6 months ago.”[/size]
[size=45]The official, who asked not to be named, expected that behind the cessation of these targeting “is an attempt to open new relations between the factions and the United States.”[/size]
[size=45]In a later development, security sources reported that a drone had been intercepted over the Ain al-Assad military base in Anbar and shot down. Regarding the withdrawal of US forces, the official close to the military command said: “There are no US combat forces, there are trainers and consultants working with the most important Iraqi weapon, which is (F-16) aircraft,” noting that Iraq “needs military support with aviation, photography, and border control.”[/size]
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