Iraqi president slams Trump's remarks about staying in Iraq

Associated Press
Monday, Feb. 4, 2019 10:17 a.m. | Monday, Feb. 4, 2019 10:17 a.m.

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In this Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One, on his way back to the White House in Washington from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Iraq’s President Barham Salih spoke Monday at a forum in Baghdad slamming comments by Trump in which he said he wants to keep U.S. troops in Iraq “to watch Iran.” Salih said the U.S. president did not ask Iraq’s permission for American troops stationed there to watch Iran. He said the Iraqi constitution forbids the use of Iraq as a base to threaten the interests or security of neighboring countries. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

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In this Jan. 27, 2018, file photo, U.S. Army soldiers speak to families in rural Anbar on a reconnaissance patrol near a coalition outpost in western Iraq. Iraq’s president has slammed comments by U.S. President Donald Trump who he says he wants to keep U.S. troops in Iraq “to watch Iran.” Barham Salih said Monday, Feb. 4, 2019 that Trump did not ask Iraq’s permission for American troops stationed there to watch Iran, describing his comments as “strange.”(AP Photo/Susannah George, File)

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s president on Monday criticized Donald Trump for saying he wants to keep U.S. troops in Iraq “to watch Iran,” saying the U.S. leader did not ask Iraq’s permission to do so.

“We find these comments strange,” said Barham Salih, speaking at a forum in Baghdad. Salih said U.S. troops were in Iraq as part of an agreement between the two countries and with a specific mission of assisting in the fight against the Islamic State group and combatting “terrorism.” He said the Iraqi constitution forbids the use of Iraq as a base to threaten the interests or security of neighboring countries.

“Don’t overburden Iraq with your own issues,” he added.

Salih was responding to Trump’s comments in an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” during which Trump said the U.S. has an “incredible base” in Iraq that he intends to keep “because I want to be able to watch Iran.”

“We spent a fortune on building this incredible base,” Trump said. “We might as well keep it. And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem.”

He said the U.S. base in Iraq is “perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East.”