Baghdad and the factions calm down with “Trump” and deny providing facilities for Iran to strike Isr

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[size=52]Baghdad and the factions calm down with “Trump” and deny providing facilities for Iran to strike Israel[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]It seems that most political and even military events in Iraq have anticipated any expected escalatory steps from US President Donald Trump, who is known for his hardline positions towards factions and Iran.
Late Friday evening, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Trump agreed to coordinate together to end wars in the region, according to a government statement.
A previous visit by Trump during his first term to the Ain al-Assad base west of Anbar had drawn criticism from Iraqi Shiite political forces.
The statement said that al-Sudani “made a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump, expressing his congratulations to the President and the American people on winning the elections and the great confidence that the American people have given him.” It
added: “The two sides also affirmed their desire to advance the strategic partnership between the two countries, and to strengthen bilateral relations in ways that go beyond the security aspect, through close cooperation in the fields of economy, finance, energy, and technology.”
According to the statement, the prime minister indicated that “he was informed of Trump’s promises during the election campaign, which included his commitment to ending wars in the region, and the two sides agreed to coordinate together to achieve this.”
For his part, the US President-elect expressed his “desire to work positively with the Prime Minister, and to meet soon to discuss expanding relations between Iraq and the United States of America, and to work on common files.”
The Iraqi Prime Minister had met with outgoing US President Joe Biden seven months ago during an official visit to Washington.
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the former Prime Minister, also met with Trump in 2020, where he announced that US forces would leave within three years.
On Wednesday, Al-Sudani congratulated Trump on his victory in the US presidential elections for a new term, expressing his hope to strengthen bilateral relations during the new phase. Al-Sudani
wrote on the “X” platform: “We affirm Iraq’s steadfast commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with the United States, and we look forward to this new phase being the beginning of deepening cooperation between our two countries in several fields, which contributes to achieving sustainable development and benefits the two friendly peoples.”
Shiite political forces, in particular, had accused Trump during his first term of intending to dissolve the Popular Mobilization Forces, and once again of supporting the “return of the Baathists.”
Denying cooperation with Tehran
Analysts believe that Trump may begin pressuring Iraq to implement reforms related to the issue of the factions.
On Thursday, the “Hezbollah Brigades” denied the circulating news about Iran transferring weapons to Iraq to respond to Israel.
The faction said in a statement: “The rumors about the transfer of weapons, or the preparation for the Iranian response operation against the entity, that it will be from Iraq, are misleading Zionist information.”
The statement added: “We were also not asked to help respond to the recent Zionist aggression,” warning that “if the occupation thinks of carrying out any attack on Iraq, the response will be firm, and we have set criteria for that.”
On the same day, the “State Administration Coalition” denied rumors about using Iraqi territory as a launching pad for carrying out attacks, according to a statement issued by the ruling coalition.
The statement stressed “joint action and serving the country’s supreme interest, and keeping Iraq’s territory away from the atmosphere of war that the occupying entity seeks to expand and drag the region into with the aim of destabilizing security and stability.”
The Ministerial Council for National Security also described talk of using Iraqi territory as a launching pad for attacks as “false pretexts,” stressing the need to keep Iraq’s territory and airspace away from war, during its regular meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
An American report had revealed intelligence information indicating that “the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is transferring drones and ballistic missiles to Shiite militias in Iraq, and is planning to launch a joint attack against Israel from Iraqi territory.”
“Don’t provoke Trump”
Researcher and academic Mohammed Na’na believes that there is a fear on the part of the “Axis of Resistance” of Trump’s return. He added: “Even if Trump promised to calm things down and end the war, he has a kind of aggressiveness in implementing the goals, especially if these goals have aggressive backgrounds.”
Na’na’ explained that the US’s execution of the airport strike in 2020 (which led to the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani) “came after a series of provocations by the factions, starting with bombing American bases and killing an American contractor, and ending with storming the American embassy and writing slogans threatening its employees.”
The researcher believes that the Shiite political forces and factions “realized that Trump’s desire for calm does not mean that he will not launch strikes if provoked.”
In 2021, the Iraqi judiciary issued an arrest warrant for Trump after he left the White House, and many did not expect him to return to the presidency again.
The Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives hinted that the arrest warrant may be neglected due to the difficulty of implementing it.
On January 7, 2021, the Iraqi judiciary announced the issuance of an arrest warrant from the Rusafa Investigation Court in Baghdad against former US President Donald Trump, as part of the investigation into the assassination of the Chief of Staff of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in a US strike that targeted them in the capital, Baghdad.
An official statement issued at the time explained that “the decision is based on the provisions of Article 406 of the Iraqi Penal Code in force,” stressing that “the investigation procedures to identify the other participants in the implementation of this crime will continue, whether they are Iraqis or foreigners.”
The head of the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq, Faiq Zidane, had previously stated that “we have issued an arrest warrant for Trump and we will not hesitate to take legal action.”
The researcher believes that the factions’ retreat from escalatory positions against the United States is realistic, because “the factions do not have sufficient capacity to respond to any American attack or prevent Israel from targeting Iraq.”
An advisor to Al-Sudani had predicted that Iraqi territory would be exposed to Israeli attacks, and said that the prime minister had prevented at least six strikes.
Sources reported that “the United States intervened to stop these attacks.”[/size]
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