Iraq PM tells US Rubio Iraqi airspace must not be used against neighbours

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Tuesday that Iraq should not be used as a launch pad for attacks in the Middle East war.

Iraq neighbours Iran, against which the United States and Israel launched massive strikes on February 28, as well as the Gulf, which the Islamic republic has hit with missile and drone attacks.

Within hours of the start of the war, fighter jets and missiles coming from every direction filled Iraq’s airspace.

Sudani stressed in a phone call with Rubio “the importance of ensuring that Iraqi airspace, territory, and waters are not used for any military action targeting neighbouring countries or the region,” the prime minister’s media office said.

Sudani rejected “any attempt to drag the country into ongoing conflicts,” as well as “violations of its airspace by any party.”

Iraq, long a proxy battleground between Washington and Tehran, was drawn into the war from the outset, with strikes blamed on the US and Israel targeting Iran-backed groups, which in turn have since claimed attacks on US bases in Iraq and the wider region.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said that Rubio urged Iraq to take “all possible measures to safeguard US diplomatic personnel and facilities.”

On Saturday, air defence systems intercepted rockets fired at the US embassy in Baghdad.

US air defences now intercept drones almost daily over Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, which also hosts a US consulate complex.