Iraq’s national security adviser, Qasim al-Araji, inspected a military airfield formerly used by US troops in Iraqi Kurdistan to verify Iranian claims that the Biden administration was using it to launch drone strikes against Iran but all he found was empty buildings and lots of pigeons, according to three well-placed sources who spoke on condition they not be identified by name.

Araji toured the air base near the town of Harir in Erbil governorate on Oct. 27 during a formal visit to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to congratulate the government on the successful holding of long-delayed parliamentary elections on Oct. 20. The sources briefing Al-Monitor said Araji had likely asked to be taken there in response to Iran’s demands.

“We assume he was acting on behalf of Tehran,” one of them said.

Harir was for a time a strategic US asset, hosting various US military aircraft used in Operation Inherent Resolve, the United States’ mission to combat the Islamic State. But when the US role switched from combat to advisory in response to Iraq’s demands that it scale down its presence and eventually withdraw, Harir’s importance waned.