Barrack heads to Iraq as US presses Baghdad on Iran-backed militias
US envoy Tom Barrack is due to meet with Iraq’s new prime minister and other top officials in Baghdad, where he will likely press US demands for Iran-backed Shiite militias be dismantled and disarmed.
Tom Barrack, the US presidential envoy to Syria and Iraq and the US ambassador to Turkey, will travel to Iraq for separate meetings in Baghdad and Erbil, according to several officials familiar with the matter.
Barrack is due to hold meetings in Baghdad on Monday and in Erbil on Tuesday, the officials told Al-Monitor. It will mark the envoy’s first trip to Baghdad since President Donald Trump, a close personal friend, expanded Barrack’s portfolio to include Iraq.
Barrack is due to meet with Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, as well as other top officials in Baghdad, where he will likely press US demands for Iran-backed Shiite militias be dismantled and disarmed, the sources said.
In Erbil, Barrack is due to hold talks with Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The KDP is the most influential party in Iraqi Kurdistan. Barrack will also meet Barzani’s son, Masrour, who is the prime minister and Barzani’s nephew and son-in-law, Nechirvan, who is the president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
