Trump threatens ‘never seen before’ sanctions on Iraq after parliament votes to expel US troops

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened unprecedentedly harsh sanctions on Iraq following a non-binding Iraqi parliamentary resolution to expel foreign troops from the country.

“If there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate, we are going to put sanctions on Iraq, very big sanctions on Iraq,” Trump said.

“We will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame,” US President Donald Trump added while speaking to reporters as he returned to Washington, AP reported.

In the presence of mainly Shiite MPs, Iraqi parliament on Sunday passed a non-binding resolution asking the Iraqi government to have foreign troops expelled from the country.

The parliamentary session, boycotted by Sunnis and Kurds, was upon the request of the Iraqi government following two deadly US airstrikes.

A strike targeting a base belonging to the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in western Iraq last week killed 25 of its fighters.

The US followed that with a targeted assassination of notorious Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, deputy head of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an official umbrella organization under which a series of Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite paramilitaries fall.

US responses were in retaliation for a Kataib Hezbollah rocket attack that had days earlier killed a US civilian contractor and injured servicemen, followed by an attack of the US embassy by the militia’s supporters.

The escalation has propelled a push by Shiite parties for the expulsion of US forces from Iraq. 

The parliamentary resolution, however, bears no legal consequences, and the status of the current, caretaker Iraqi cabinet has cast doubt on the possibility of expelling foreign troops. 

There are 5,000 US troops currently stationed at Iraqi military bases, to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces in the ongoing fight against ISIS.

Amid the skyrocketing tensions, the US-led Global Coalition against Islamic State (ISIS) has already said it would temporarily scale back its operations in Iraq, a US defense official told AFP on Saturday.

In an apparent billing of Iraq for the costs of waging war in the country, Trump said American troops would only leave the country if Iraqis “pay us back for it.”

In his first official comments since Soleimani’s killing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a joint statement alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

“General Qasem Soleimani posed a threat to all our interests and was responsible for a pattern of disruptive, destabilising behaviour in the region,” Johnson was quoted as saying.

“Given the leading role he has played in actions that have led to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and western personnel, we will not lament his death.”

“We are in close contact with all sides to encourage de-escalation. I will be speaking to other leaders and our Iraqi friends to support peace and stability,” concluded his comments.

The joint statement curiously made no mention of the US or President Trump.