In mid-1962, the Kennedy administration tasked Roosevelt with making preparations for a military coup against Iraqi Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim, whose expropriation of the concessionary holdings of the British- and American-owned Iraq Petroleum Company and threats to invade Kuwait were considered a threat to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf. While the CIA had cultivated assets within the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, a former CIA colleague of Roosevelt's has denied any CIA role in the February 1963 Ba'athist coup that saw Qasim assassinated, stating instead that the CIA's efforts against Qasim were still in the planning stages at the time.