US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Wednesday where he held talks with President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi.
He also held talks with his Iraqi counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim and traveled to Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.
Pompeo is on an eight-nation tour of the Middle East that he kicked off in Jordan on Tuesday.
His tour comes weeks after President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement that he will pull all 2,000 US troops from Syria, which caused alarm among US allies in the region.
Pompeo met with American troops and Iraqi leaders to reassure them about the US pullout from Syria and warn that Iran remains a regional security threat.
In Baghdad, Pompeo said he told Iraqi officials that "the fight to counter Iran is real and important."
Pompeo and Abdul Mahdi discussed efforts to ensure the "lasting defeat throughout the region" of the ISIS group, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said.
Pompeo also promoted the US push to move Iraq toward energy independence, said Palladino. Iraq imports electricity and natural gas from Iran to meet its energy needs.
Abdul Mahdi and Halbousi, who met with Pompeo separately, both said they told the American diplomat that Iraq values good relations with its neighbors.
After his trip to Iraq, the US official landed in Cairo on Wednesday night. He will also visit Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman as part of his tour of the region.
Trump had paid a visit to Iraq in late 2018 where he met with US troops stationed at al-Asad Airbase in western Anbar province.
He did not meet any Iraqi officials, drawing criticism from Baghdad and compelling several parliamentary blocs to call for a US pullout from Iraq.
