Iraq

BAGHDAD, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi Saturday said Iraq supports any efforts aimed at stabilizing the Middle East amid rising tensions between Iran and the United States.

Abdul Mahdi's remarks came during his meeting with the visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his delegation in Baghdad, where the two sides discussed bilateral ties and tensions in the Middle East region, Abdul Mahdi's media office said in a statement.

8 June 2019; DW: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas arrived Saturday in Iraq, where he is set to hold talks with Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and President Barham Salih over the increasing tensions between Iran and the US. Maas's Iraq trip was previously not announced due to security reasons.

"There is a clear danger of miscalculations, misunderstandings, provocations leading to unforeseeable consequences in this highly tense region," Maas said as he arrived in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran (all times local):

2:45 a.m.

International investigators believe last month’s attacks on oil tankers in a United Arab Emirates port were led by a foreign state using divers on speed boats who planted mines on the vessels.

They did not name Iran, which the U.S. has blamed for the attacks.

That’s what United Nations ambassadors from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Norway told a closed meeting with U.N. Security Council members on Thursday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran has chosen to “step back and recalculate” after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said Thursday.

In an interview with three reporters accompanying him to the Gulf, Gen. Frank McKenzie said he remains concerned by Iran’s potential for aggression, and he would not rule out requesting additional U.S. forces to bolster defenses against Iranian missiles or other weapons.

BAGHDAD (AP) — For years, Karar Hussein has sold sweets in his shop near the entrance to one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, accepting whatever currency was offered to him by his clients, many of them religious tourists from neighboring Iran. But lately, when Iranian pilgrims ask about prices, he tells them he can only sell if they pay in Iraqi currency. They often walk out, disappointed.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq offered Sunday to mediate in the crisis between its two key allies, the United States and Iran, amid escalating Middle East tensions and as Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers steadily unravels.

Iraqi foreign minister, Mohammed al-Hakim, made the offer during a joint news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

BAGHDAD, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces killed 11 Islamic State (IS) militants in an operation in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, the Iraqi military said on Tuesday.

A joint force from the Iraqi army, provincial police and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units conducted an operation to clear a desert area in Salahudin province from IS militants, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

20 May 2019; MEMO: A rocket was fired into the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies, on Sunday but caused no casualties, the Iraqi military said, Reuters reports.

“A Katyusha rocket fell in the middle of the Green Zone without causing any losses,” the military said in a statement, later specifying that it landed near the Monument of the Unknown Soldier.

BAGHDAD, May 15 (Xinhua): The U.S. Embassy in Iraq said on Wednesday that the U.S. State Department has ordered the non-emergency U.S. employees working in both the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil to leave Iraq.

"Normal visa services at both posts (Baghdad and Erbil) will be temporarily suspended," an embassy statement said.

"The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq," the statement added.

Baghdad, May 10, IRNA – Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Thursday that Iraq will never be part of the US anti-Iran sanctions.