US-Iraq relationship being 'reshaped', FM Fuad Hussein tells Rudaw

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein sat down with Rudaw's Majeed Gly on Friday at the UN Headquarters in New York, discussing the new phase of the US-Iraq relationship, the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), and relations with Tehran and Washington. 

Strategic dialogue recently held between the US and Iraq focused on “reshaping” the relations between the two countries after the announcement Washington will be withdrawing combat troops, Hussein said.

Speaking of Iran-US rivalries, Hussein says Iraq hopes the US and Iran will return to nuclear deal negotiations, with improved relations between Washington and Tehran important for Iraq’s stability and security. 

This interview has been lightly edited for length.

Rudaw: Hello everyone.This is Majeed Gly talking to you from the United Nations Headquarters in New York with Dr. Fuad Hussein, the Foreign Minister of Iraq. He just came from DC after a historic visit with the Iraqi prime minister talking with the US administration officials. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it. I want to ask you first of all about the result, the main result of your visit to Washington, a meeting between the Prime Minister of Iraq and the President of the United States Joe Biden. What was the main result of the meeting?

The main result has been announced actually. We had [a] joint communique…we dealt with various subjects which has to do with reshaping the relationship between Washington and Baghdad and putting the bases for the future relationship between both countries. And when we are talking about reshaping, we are talking about reshaping on the economic field, energy field, healthcare, education, culture. So, we dealt with various topics, as well as of course the security and military side.

The main announcement that came out of this visit is an agreement with the US about their troop presence in Iraq. You announced that all the combat troops are to withdraw from Iraq. What does this mean in terms of the US presence in Iraq and how long more would you need the US support?

You see the mission, the United States mission in Iraq, the military mission, according to this joint declaration, would be changed and we mentioned that the combat forces, American combat forces, will withdraw from Iraq. At the end of this year, there will not be any more American combat forces inside Iraq. What does this mean for Iraq and for the relationship between Washington and Baghdad on the military and security field? It means that the forces which will stay in Iraq will be forces which have to do with training, giving training to Iraqi military, Iraqi security services, but also advising the Iraqi army in the fight against ISIS and exchanging information between the intelligence service and security service. So, the field of working together will be a different field than before. Before, we were fighting together, ISIS terrorists. Now the ISIS terrorist state has collapsed, but there are still ISIS terrorist organization, but they are not comparable with the past. They are small groups, so we can fight them. But the Iraqi army and Iraqi security organizations still need training and advising and exchanging information. So, the work in the future will be different between both sides. It is more focused on working together in these fields that I mentioned.

In 2011, when the US forces withdrew from Iraq, the result was the rise of ISIS, chaos and the collapse of the state and ISIS became a threat to the entire world. Do you see a similar scenario amid this decrease of US troops presence in Iraq? Is this the scenario of 2011?

No, I do not think it is similar, the scenario. First of all, the United States and other allies, they came to Iraq again in 2014 on the invitation of the Iraqi government, on the invitation of the Iraqi prime minister. Second, I think the Iraqi forces, when I am talking about the Iraqi forces, I am talking about all forces, the army, Peshmerga, police, security service, Hashd al-Shaabi. They all have got more information about ISIS activity. They know how to better fight ISIS and they built a huge experience in fighting ISIS. And besides that, ISIS is not comparable with 2014... however, we have got ISIS elements, ISIS forces inside Syria. This can be a threat for Iraqi security in the future. So at the end, we need to continue to fight against ISIS. But the fight will be in a different way. We need more information about ISIS, collect information about ISIS. In fact, recently, it was possible for Iraqi forces to kill the Wali of Iraq and to kill his deputy and to arrest the so-called Wali of Baghdad. The Wali of ISIS himself also was an Iraqi. I hope the Iraqi forces will also arrest or kill them. So the fight against ISIS now is different than in 2014. And ISIS itself is different from 2014. Ideologically, of course ISIS has got supporters. And it is true that ISIS originally was an Iraqi organization and Syrian organization. Now it became also African organization. And they have got some forces inside Afghanistan. On this basis, because ISIS is an international organization, we need international cooperation. And when we talk about international cooperation, we need cooperation with the allies, and Americans are leading these allies. So we need this cooperation, but cooperation with the allies, it will be different than [what] it was before.

You also have great relations with Iran. Iraq is in a position to have good relations with Iran and the US. How do you maneuver Iranian objections to any US presence in Iraq? They do not want any US military presence in Iraq. How do you balance the Iranians' wish to have a complete withdrawal of the US military personnel in Iraq with your recent agreement in Washington that you just made with the Biden administration?

It is obvious that the Iranians have got problems with Americans, or the Americans have got problems with Iranians. This is a fact. And their problem is historical, it does not belong to today. From day one in 1979 until now, so from establishing the Islamic Republic in Iran, Iranians and Americas were in conflict and they are still in conflict. But the Americans, they helped us. They helped us in the first place to remove Saddam Hussein. And second, they helped us in the fight against ISIS. And Americans [are] needed for rebuilding our economy, rebuilding our society and we cooperate with Americans on international levels, diplomatic levels, political levels. So our relationship with the United States is different than Tehran's relationship with Washington. However, we hope that both countries start negotiations, directly, negotiating with each other, and of course the negotiations started about the nuclear deal in Vienna. And we hope that they will restart the talks, and they will reach an agreement, because when United States and Iran are [on] good terms, I think it will affect positively the internal political situation in Iraq. But, in fact, it will affect positively the security situation inside Iraq. So, it is in our interest, when the Americans and Iranians are talking to each other and they will reach an agreement with each other.

Did you, as an Iraqi delegation, did you have any message from Tehran to the Biden administration during this visit?

We are not messengers... we are frank in our discussions with both sides. And as I mentioned, when these two sides will come together, it will be in the benefit of internal politics in Iraq. So, on the basis of our own interest, Iraqi interest, we are trying to talk to both sides. We are discussing matters to both sides, to Iranian side and the United States. After I will be back to Baghdad, after two or three days, I will be in Tehran. So, of course, I will discuss matters which have to do with Iran, Iraq and the area, which I discussed here, I will discuss there.

Fuad Hussein, Iraq's foreign minister, thank you so much for this opportunity.

Thank you for having me, thank you.