The State Department ordered Wednesday the departure of non-emergency US government employees from Iraq amid increasing tensions with Iran and warned US citizens not to travel to the country, citing a “high risk for violence and kidnapping.”

The department said in a statement that employees working in the US embassy in Baghdad and the US consulate in Erbil were instructed to leave Iraq, and that “normal visa services will be temporarily suspended at both posts.”

It added that American Citizens Services employees who were working in the embassy in Baghdad “will continue to provide consular services to U.S. citizens in Basrah.”

The department said the sudden changes were because the US government’s “ability to provide routine and emergency services to US citizens in Iraq is extremely limited” and that as a result, the threat of “terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict” aimed at Americans in the country was too great a risk.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unannounced visit to Iraq last week amid escalating tensions with Iran.

While there, Pompeo said he spoke to Iraqi officials “about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it’s able to adequately protect Americans in their country.”

US officials have told CNN the US had “specific and credible” intelligence that suggested Iranian forces and proxies were planning to target US forces in locations including Iraq. That intelligence led the Pentagon to recommend a carrier strike group be moved to the region.

The State Department also said Wednesday that Americans “should not travel through Iraq to Syria to engage in armed conflict” as they may face similar threats in Syria and face “legal risks” from both the US and Syria.

The orders from the State Department come a day after US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement that the Pentagon has increased the threat risk for US troops in Iraq and Syria.

“US Central Command, in coordination with Operation Inherent Resolve, has increased the force posture level for all service members assigned to OIR in Iraq and Syria. As a result, OIR is now at a high level of alert as we continue to closely monitor credible and possibly imminent threats to US forces in Iraq,” US Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Command, said in a statement Tuesday.

Urban’s statement also pushed back against comments made earlier Tuesday by the deputy commander of the US-led military coalition against ISIS, UK Major Gen. Chris Ghika, who said “there has been no increased threat from Iranian backed forces in Iraq and Syria.” </s> The U.S. State Department issued a Security Alert Wednesday morning ordering the departure of all non-emergency U.S. government employees from Iraq.

The alert calls for the immediate evacuation of non-emergency workers from both the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. Consulate in Erbil.

“Normal visa services at both posts will be temporarily suspended,” the alert reads. “The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq.”

The order comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision last year to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, the administration has reimposed sanctions on Iran.

And in April, the administration said countries that import Iranian oil will be subject to sanctions, CNN reported.

Sanctions against Iran have pushed the nation toward economic crisis in recent months.

“Last week, Iran warned it would begin enriching uranium at higher levels in 60 days if world powers failed to negotiate new terms for the deal,” according to The Times of Israel.

It appears that this is not the only way Iran has attempted to push western leaders to meet its nuclear deal demands.

The U.S. government reported last week that evidence suggests Iran and its proxies could soon take aim at Americans and American interests in the area, according to the The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for drone attacks that targeted Saudi Arabian pumping stations earlier this week.

And Wednesday’s State Department evacuation order came after the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a similar alert Sunday.

“The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad advises all U.S. citizens of heightened tensions in Iraq and the requirement to remain vigilant,” the alert reads.

Americans in the area should “avoid places known as U.S. citizen gathering points,” the alert said. But in general, U.S. citizens should “not travel to Iraq” at all.

Last week, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, who heads U.S. Central Command, issued a blunt warning to Iran as the U.S. dispatched a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the region, the Washington Examiner reported.

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“First, it sends a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on U.S. interests will be met with unrelenting force,” McKenzie said at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies conference in Washington, D.C.

“If a fight is to be had, we will be fully prepared to respond and defend our interests,” McKenzie continued. “And it won’t be a fair fight.”

Trump also weighed in Tuesday on the growing tensions with Iran, denying a report that U.S. officials were working on a plan that would send upward of 100,000 troops to the Middle East.

“I think it’s fake news,” Trump said. “Would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully, we’re not going to have to plan for that.”

“And if we did that, we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that,” Trump said.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> Demonstrators stormed the Iranian consulate in Iraq on Friday, in protest of corruption and misrule by Iraq's political elite. The angry protesters damaged the consulate's offices and shouted anti-Iranian slogans while others briefly took workers hostage at a nearby oilfield.

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After five days of deadly demonstrations in the southern city of Basra, in which government buildings have been ransacked and set alight, protesters broke in and damaged the consulate's offices, shouting condemnation of what many perceive as Iran's sway over Iraq's political affairs.

Demonstrators storm the Iranian consulate in Iraq (Photo: AFP)

Security sources said the consulate was empty when the crowd burst in. Iraq's Foreign Ministry said the storming of the consulate, which it deeply regretted, had nothing to do with protesters' demands.

"The targeting of diplomatic missions is unacceptable and detrimental to the interests of Iraq," said ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub.

Iran, however, blamed Iraq for failing to protect its embassy and said it expected Baghdad to "identify and punish the attackers quickly," Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the ministry, told journalists, according to state media.

The Iraqi ambassador to Tehran was later summoned to the foreign ministry over the complaints.

Angry protesters storm the Iranian consulate in southern Iraq (צילום: רויטרס)

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Several foreign governments have consulates in the city, including the United States and Russia. In a statement, the US State Department condemned the violence against diplomats and called on "all parties, including security forces and protesters, to uphold the right of peaceful protest and to protect diplomats and their facilities."

Late in the day some 65 kilometers north-west of Iraq's second biggest city, another group of protesters entered a water treatment facility linked to the West Qurna 2 oilfield, managed by Russia's Lukoil.

The protesters held two Iraqi employees hostage for about an hour before leaving the facility peacefully, according to a Lukoil source and a source with Basra's energy police. Production was not disrupted, a manager at the oilfield said.

The unrest in Basra could have deeper implications for a country that imports most of its food.

Protesters shouting anti-Iranian slogans (Photo: EPA)

Since Thursday, protesters have shut Iraq's only major sea port at Umm Qasr, 60 km (40 miles) south of Basra. It remained shut on Friday, local officials and security sources said, although oil exports, carried out from offshore platforms, have not been affected.

Sweep clean

Residents say they have been driven to the streets by corruption that allowed infrastructure to collapse, leaving no power or safe drinking water in the heat of summer, with protests intensifying on Monday.

Since then at least 12 demonstrators have died in the city of 2 million, mostly in clashes with security forces, as demonstrators torched government buildings and the offices of political parties, whose leaders are all vying to form Iraq's ruling coalition.

On Friday, two protesters died from gunshot wounds and 39 were wounded, local health and security sources said. A curfew was imposed shortly before 9pm local time, but residents still targeted a building belonging to Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, the grouping of mostly Iran-backed Shi'ite militias.

Iraqi protesters set fire to Iran consulate (Photo: Reuters)

The national security council of the Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, met on Friday and said it was investigating casualties at the protests.

The storming of the consulate came hours after Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric called for a political shakeup in Baghdad and a halt to violence against the protesters.

Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the ultimate authority for devout members of Iraq's Shi'ite majority who normally holds himself above day-to-day politics, placed blame for the unrest with political leaders and said a new government should be formed, "different from its predecessors."

Smaller protests also took place on Friday in other cities in Iraq, including Karbala and Baghdad.

New crisis

The unrest has thrust Iraq into a major new crisis at a time when politicians have yet to agree on a new government after an inconclusive election in May. The new parliament finally met on Monday for the first time, but broke up after a day having failed to elect a speaker, much less name the next prime minister.

Parliament's interim leader summoned lawmakers to an emergency session on Saturday to discuss the unrest.

Leading political figures, embroiled in government formation negotiations in Baghdad, have scrambled to respond to the crisis, condemning rivals for inaction.

Demonstrations in the southern Iraqi city, Basra (Photo: AP)

Iraq's political factions mainly came together in the past four years during a war against Islamic State. Baghdad's two most influential allies, Washington and Tehran, also backed the government despite their deep hostility to each other.

But since Islamic State was largely defeated last year, divisions have resurfaced. Shi'ites in the south, where most of Iraq's oil wealth is produced, say Baghdad politicians have squandered state funds while leaving them desperate.

Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shi'ite cleric whose electoral bloc came first in May's election, said on Twitter that Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi must release more funds for Basra.

Sadr, the former leader of an anti-American Shi'ite sectarian militia who has reinvented himself as an anti-corruption campaigner, has allied himself with prime minister Abadi.

Their alliance is competing to form a government against a rival bloc backed by Abadi's predecessor Nuri al-Maliki and the leader of an Iran-backed Shi'ite armed group, Hadi al-Amiri. Amiri called on Abadi to resign over the crisis on Friday. </s> The US State Department on Wednesday ordered all non-emergency staff to leave its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Arbil, as tensions mount between the United States and Iraq's neighbor Iran.

Washington has ramped up pressure on Tehran in recent days, accusing Iran of planning "imminent" attacks in the region, and bolstering the American military presence in the Gulf.

"Numerous terrorist and insurgent groups are active in Iraq and regularly attack both Iraqi security forces and civilians," a travel advisory warned.

"Anti-US sectarian militias may also threaten US citizens and Western companies throughout Iraq."

The US last year shut its consulate in the protest-hit southern Iraqi city of Basra, blaming "indirect fire" by Iran-backed forces and warning its rival of retaliation for any damage.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week paid a surprise trip to Baghdad in a move to bolster ties with Iraq as it pushes ahead with its "maximum pressure" against Tehran -- a US arch-rival, but an ally of Iraq.

He told reporters he had made the trip because Iranian forces are "escalating their activity" and said the threat of attacks were "very specific."

Pompeo met with Iraq President Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, and spoke to them "about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it's able to adequately protect Americans in their country."

The Pentagon said it was sending several massive, nuclear-capable B-52s to the region in response to "recent and clear indications that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were making preparations to possibly attack US forces."

Both Pompeo and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have this week played down fears that their countries were seeking conflict.

But National Security Advisor John Bolton warned Iran that Washington would respond with "unrelenting force" to any attack by Tehran, including by its regional allies.

Blasts involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) occur in many areas of Iraq, including the capital Baghdad, the advisory added. Arbil is the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital, in northern Iraq.

Get the latest election news, live updates and election schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on ndtv.com/elections. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates from each of the 543 parliamentary seats for the 2019 Indian general elections. Election results will be out on May 23. </s> BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is advising U.S. citizens against traveling to the country amid what it called “heightened tensions,” reflecting worsening strains between Washington and Tehran. The advisory was posted on…

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is advising U.S. citizens against traveling to the country amid what it called “heightened tensions,” reflecting worsening strains between Washington and Tehran.

The advisory was posted on Twitter on Sunday night. The U.S. has long advised its citizens against travel to Iraq, but the renewed warning followed Washington’s deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf in response to unspecified “threats” by Iran.

The warning follows a surprise visit to Baghdad by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week which he said was aimed at demonstrating U.S. support for the Iraqi government, as the U.S. says it has been picking up intelligence that Iran is threatening American interests in the Middle East.

During his visit, Pompeo also said he wanted to underscore Iraq’s need to protect Americans in the country.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have rocketed since President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 nuclear treaty with Iran and re-imposed severe sanctions on Iran’s energy and finance sectors.

The strain has tested Iraq’s leaders as they try to balance relations between the two rivals. Iraq sees billions of dollars in cross-border trade with Iran and has close ties with Tehran after it stepped in to fill the political vacuum following the 2003 U.S. invasion.

But Iraq is also host to more than 5,000 U.S. servicemen and women invited by the Iraqi parliament in 2014 to assist in the war against the Islamic State group.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle warned President Donald Trump on Wednesday to avoid plunging the United States into another Iraq-like war in the Middle East, demanding more information about vague warnings that Iran might be planning attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in the region.

Congressional leaders will get more information about the situation on Thursday during a confidential briefing with Trump officials, according to two Democratic sources. On Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail, politicians fretted the situation feels eerily similar to the run-up to the Iraq war.

"It's close to inconceivable that the president, the administration would consider a war with Iran," said Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican critic of the president. "The president made it clear when he ran for president that one of the worst foreign policy mistakes in American history was the decision to go to war with Iraq. And that we would repeat that [is] unthinkable and something I can't imagine the president or his senior staff would consider."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will attend Thursday's briefing, minced no words during a closed-door Democratic caucus meeting Wednesday, which came as the State Department evacuated non-emergency staffers from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"Let me say that we have to avoid any war with Iran," she said, according to a congressional aide.

Pelosi's deputy, Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer, stressed that all members of Congress must get a briefing. "This is a serious situation and we want to make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves," he said.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Senate foreign relations Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) is seeking an all-senators briefing for next week.

"I think there's a lot more to be known before decisions are made," said Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).

Tensions between Iran and the United States have spiked in the past week as U.S. officials announced fresh intelligence that Iran or its proxies in the region are planning attacks on American troops, diplomats and facilities.

The State Department on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency staff from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, where a number of Iranian-allied militias operate. The department also urged Americans not to travel to Iraq.

The Trump administration also has sped up the deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, while reportedly drafting plans for sending tens of thousands of troops to the Middle East.

It's difficult to tell, however, how serious the alleged Iranian threats are, and whether the administration's response so far has been proportional. The president himself appears hesitant to engage Iran in a military conflict. But some of his top aides, especially National Security Adviser John Bolton, have in the past championed the idea of toppling Iran's regime by force.

Iran has responded to the Trump administration's rhetoric with a mixture of mockery and bellicosity, but always insisting it wants no part in a war with the U.S.

Still, there's fear a war could evolve inadvertently if lower-level fighters on either side make moves that lead to a military response.

Democrats challenging Trump for the presidency in 2020 quickly jumped into the fray, comparing the burgeoning situation to the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They noted that several top Trump staffers, including Bolton, pushed for the U.S. invasion of Iraq based on faulty — and possibly manipulated — intelligence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. can't make the same mistake on Iran, a harder target than Iraq, they said.

"It's time to end the forever wars," 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg wrote on Twitter. "But in this White House, some of the same people who got us into Iraq now seem ready to stoke a new conflict. It's another reason Congress must reassert its war powers."

"This is chicken hawks trying to drag us into a war with Iran just like they did 15 years ago in Iraq," said Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a 2020 Democrat who has been highlighting his military service.

Some U.S. allies have also appeared hesitant to take the Trump administration at its word about imminent Iranian threats in the region.

A British major general, Chris Ghika, who is a top official in the U.S.-led battle against the Islamic State terrorist group, told reporters Tuesday there is "no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces" to U.S. and other coalition troops in Iraq and Syria. Ghika quickly walked back his comments, insisting there is no dissension between the U.S. and Britain on the subject, but U.S. military officials still issued a rare rebuttal of his remarks later that afternoon.

European diplomatic officials, meanwhile urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to exercise "maximum restraint" with Iran after he flew to Brussels to brief them this week, a nod to the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.

America's European allies "do not see the same threat that this administration is talking about," said Ben Rhodes, a top aide to former President Barack Obama, Wednesday on MSNBC.

Rhodes added that during his eight years in the White House, "there was always intelligence about one particular group or another that could pose a threat to U.S. interests in the region from Iran or one of its proxies. That's not new."

But some U.S. and foreign diplomats privately told POLITICO the threats are credible, noting that the diplomatic security division of the State Department is known for its caution on such matters.

How the U.S. reacts could depend on how it is defining the threat, and critics of the administration worry its parameters are far too wide.

In announcing the administration is speeding up the deployment of an aircraft carrier and other warships to the Middle East, Bolton said that "any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

Iran has links to an array of militias throughout the Middle East, but it is not always in direct command and control of their actions. The U.S. also has many allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, whose own military forces are in multiple places, raising the risk of contact with Iran or its proxies.

Trump on Tuesday denied a New York Times report that he is considering sending some 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat. But he didn't rule it out, either.

"Now, would I do that? Absolutely," Trump said. "But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. If we did that, we would send a hell of a lot more troops than that."

A massive build-up of U.S. troops would take many months, but the 120,000 figure is widely believed to be an inadequate number for a full-on invasion of Iran, a country that is larger in size and population than Iraq, with a far more sophisticated military apparatus.

Iranian officials dismissed the notion that the two countries will go to war, while still saying they would prevail in any encounter.

"We don't seek a war nor do they. They know a war wouldn't be beneficial for them," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday.

It's a back-and-forth that is causing hand-wringing back in Washington.

"There's concern of the rhetoric on both sides," said Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the armed services committee. "We have to know what's going on. And we don't know." </s> Great Britain also issued security alert for its personnel in Iraq. The threat leveal was raised for UK troops and diplomats in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as well.

Earlier this week the US State Department ordered the departure of "non-emergency government employees" from Baghdad and Erbil after US Central Command spokesman Bill Urban that the US-led coalition was on high alert because it saw credible threats to American forces in Iraq.

READ MORE: Iran Reminds of US Lies Before Iraq War, Hints US Official Behind Scaremongering

However, British Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, who is a deputy commander of the coalition forces, stated that the threat level by Iranian-backed groups against the troops in Iraq and Syria has not risen.

The news comes after the US increased its military presence in the Middle East amid growing tensions with Tehran, sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf.

READ MORE: Russian FM: Iran Had the Right to Partially Suspend Nuclear Deal Commitments

According to White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, Washington is fully prepared to "respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces".

In the meantime, the Islamic Republic has suspended certain obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, giving five remaining signatories — France, the UK, Russia, China, and Germany — a 60-day deadline to take measures towards ensuring the country's interests amid US sanctions. </s> Tehran, Sep 8 (IANS) Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the attack on its consulate in Iraq’s southern city of Basra.

The attackers on Friday “brutally” set Iran’s consulate ablaze, causing serious damage, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, none of the staff members was hurt, he said, adding that the consulate had taken preemptive measures after it received threats a day earlier.

The Iranian spokesman demanded the Iraqi government take responsibility for protecting Iranian diplomatic missions, and urged it to identify and punish the elements behind the “serious crime”.

Protesters torched the Iranian consulate in Basra amid mass rallies against corruption and lack of basic services. </s> The Turkish Vice Consul was killed in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan Erbil in an attack by armed men, according to the Iraqi channel Al Sumaria.

According to initial reports, killed three employees of the Turkish Consulate. However, it turned out that one of the victims survived. Assault with a firearm was committed in that moment, when the diplomat and his companions had dinner in the restaurant. The area of the incident was cordoned off by security forces, reports “Interfax”.

The Ministry of foreign Affairs of Turkey confirmed the death of an employee of the Consulate General in Iraq during the attack in Erbil. “Our Consulate in the Iraqi Erbil were killed in an armed attack outside the Embassy”, – said in a communiqué.

The report says that Ankara “continues to work closely with the Iraqi authorities for the operational establishment of the attackers”. This is the first time that diplomats were attacked in Erbil, reports TASS.

The official representative of the Turkish President Ibrahim Kalin promised that Ankara will respond in who was behind the attack on Turkish diplomats. “I Express my deep condolences to the relatives of the consular officer, who was killed during a brutal attack in Erbil. We are working on finding the perpetrators. Those who are behind the attack, will get our answer,” the representative wrote Erdogan on Twitter.

The situation commented the head of Turkey. “I condemn the attack on our consular staff in Erbil, We continue to make efforts together with Iraqi authorities to ensure that criminals were arrested in the nearest future”, – wrote President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his Twitter page.

The Iraqi foreign Ministry also condemned the killing of the diplomat and its accompanying Iraqi province of Erbil (part of the Kurdish Autonomous region (KAR), having the status of broad autonomy within Iraq). This was announced on Wednesday the official representative of the Iraqi foreign Ministry, Ahmed al-Sahaf.

“We condemn the incident that happened with the Turkish diplomat in Erbil and Iraqi escort, and also led to the wounding of one man,” said the spokesman.

U.S. Secretary of state Michael Pompeo called the incident in Erbil act of wanton violence. “We strongly condemn the recent attack in Erbil, where he was killed at least one Turkish diplomat. There can be no justification for such acts of unwarranted violence, – said the state Secretary. – The United States confirmed its commitment to support the government and people of Turkey and Iraq.” Statement by Secretary of state published on the state Department website.
The United States Department of State orders all non-emergency, non-essential government employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and Erbil consulate office to leave Iraq amid heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf between the United States and Iran.