Iraqi PM-designate Says “National Sovereignty is My Red Line”

By Staff, Agencies

Iraq’s newly-designated Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said that the success of Iraq’s international relations will be based on “respect and cooperation.”

“The country’s national sovereignty is the top priority,” al-Kadhimi said, according to a report by al-Sumaria News.

Al-Kadhimi stressed that his government will never allow anyone to insult any Iraqi citizen by accusing him/her of being linked to foreigners.

He also vowed that the cabinet that he is to form will be at the frontline of defending Iraqis and fighting against the novel coronavirus.

His comments come against the backdrop of the United States’ recent suspicious moves in the Arab country.

Earlier this month, the US Central Command [CENTCOM] deployed new Patriot missile systems to Iraq without informing the Iraqi government, amid calls for the withdrawal of American troops from the Arab country.

In late March, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units [PMU], known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, blew the lid off a plot by the US military to carry out massive aerial operations — backed by ground troops – against bases of the elite anti-terror force, which is currently busy helping the government in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The US plans to conduct heli-borne operations backed up by ground troops and fighter jets against positions belonging to security agencies and positions of Iraq’s resistance groups, the PMU anti-terror group Hezbollah Brigades said in a statement.

Stating that the US plot endangers internal peace in Iraq, the PMU vowed a firm response to any such operation.

On April 3, the Iraqi resistance groups reiterated their readiness to counter any possible attack by US occupation forces, saying that they are also on high alert for any false-flag US operation aimed at creating further unrest in the Arab country.