Top Iraqi officials talk regional de-escalation with Saudi leaders
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Following a week of events in Iraq that ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East, Saudi Arabian Crown Prime Mohammed bin Salman discussed regional de-escalation on Saturday in a phone call with Iraq’s Caretaker Prime Minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi. On the same day, Iraqi President Barham Salih spoke separately with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud about the same topic.
According to a statement released by Abdul Mahdi's office, he and bin Salman discussed “the difficult situations facing Iraq and the region,” and “exchanged views on the expected repercussions and the importance of cooperation to mitigate its effects and avoid a total escalation.”
This comes after tit-for-tat attacks by the US and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have taken center stage in world news and fueled speculation of the possibility of all-out war between the two international foes.
Early Friday, an American drone assassinated former chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of the Tehran-aligned Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) militia in Iraq.
Read More: US strike kills Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis
Iraqi officials have roundly condemned the US strike, which took place just outside the Baghdad International Airport after Soleimani met up with Muhandis. Days earlier, they had condemned militiamen and supporters after they attempted to storm the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, torching parts of it.
Read More: Top Iraqi officials condemn attempts to storm US embassy in Baghdad
Commenting on Soleimani’s death, the Saudi Foreign Ministry called for calm in a statement, urging the international community to “to take the necessary measures” to ensure the security of the region.
Iraq's President Salih stressed “bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries” in his Saturday conversation with King bin Abdulaziz, who “affirmed his country’s support for the stability of Iraq” and the importance of distancing it from “regional and international conflicts.”
The King also stressed exercising “restraint and calm to achieve security and stability in Iraq and the entire region and take all measures to defuse the crisis.”
Thousands of people in Baghdad participated on Saturday in a funeral procession for the two generals, with major government officials present, including Abdul Mahdi.
The caretaker PM has also ordered a national three-day mourning period starting Saturday, the second time within a week he has so. The earlier one, which began on Wednesday, was to honor dozens of KH fighters that were killed three days before in US airstrikes near the town of al-Qaim, near the Syrian border.
The White House has said that Soleimani was in the process implementing planned attacks on US forces in Iraq and accused Muhandis’ militias of acting on his behalf by carrying out missile strikes on Iraqi bases, the latest of which resulted in the death of a US contractor and the wounding of others in late December.
The current spike in aggressive US-Iranian rhetoric and military action has eclipsed the last uptick over the summer when Iran carried out a series of attacks against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and shot down an American drone. Riyadh and Washington have also accused Tehran of being the perpetrator of a strike on major Saudi oil facilities, late last year.
Editing by John J. Catherine