A number of Senate and House Republicans are expressing serious worry over President Biden’s planned one-on-one meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, objecting to the meeting due to Iranian influence in Iraq.
The GOP lawmakers also condemned the upcoming meeting, scheduled for April 15, as undermining U.S. backing for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s conflict against Iranian-supported Hamas.
“Your appeasement of Iran has put American national security at risk and weakened our ties with our allies,” lawmakers stated in a letter sent to Biden at the end of last month. wrote in a letter to Biden late last month.
The letter was led by Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and signed by six GOP colleagues.
Iraq is a central battleground amid the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel. U.S. troops in the region have been targeted by Iranian-backed militia — some of which are part of the Iraqi armed forces — and Kurdish forces allied with the U.S. are also under attack from these groups.
Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have also attacked American forces across the area. Three U.S. service members stationed in Jordan were killed in an attack suspected by the Pentagon to be carried out by Kataib Hizballah, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.
“These militias have attacked Americans and Kurdistan over 180 times just since October 7, 2023, resulting in three American servicemember deaths and over 100 casualties,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers listed a set of conditions for a visit by the Iraqi prime minister, focused on boosting support for the Kurdistan region of Iraq and halting funding for Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
“As a prerequisite for any visit by Prime Minister al-Sudani, you should demand the immediate reopening of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline so that the Kurdistan Region is able to export oil and U.S. public and private financing are no longer threatened by Tehran’s influence in Baghdad,” the lawmakers wrote.
“You should also require that the Iraqi government resume funding for the Kurdistan Region, the immediate sale of Kurdistan crude already at the Ceyhan port, and a full cycle of oil sales and payments to Kurdistan and its oil investors. Finally, you should not allow further U.S. dollar transfers to Iraq until the Treasury Department verifies that such transfers do not benefit the Iranian regime or its proxies.”
Other signatories to the letter include Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Reps. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas), French Hill (R-Ark.), Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.).
