SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, everyone, and thank you – thank you, Dr. Fuad and
the entire Iraqi delegation for joining us here in Washington today.
We had a good set of discussions, very productive, building on the virtual U.S.-Iraq Strategic
Dialogue that we began back in June of this year.
The state of our partnership is very strong.
We’re committed to helping Iraq achieve economic prosperity, freedom from foreign
meddling in its internal affairs, and improved relationships with its neighbors as well.
This is what the Iraqi people want, too – a stable, prosperous, independent Iraq, an Iraq
which is for Iraqis, and the Iraqis who protested last year couldn’t have made that any more
clear.
We touched on religious freedom, a priority for the Trump administration and a key to
the Iraqi nation’s flourishing.
As Iraq moves forward from the ISIS persecution and genocide, the U.S. is helping the most
vulnerable – including Christians, Yezidis, and Shabak – recover.
We devoted almost half a billion dollars to help restore these communities, yet there’s
still work to do.
Armed groups not under the full control of the prime minister have impeded our progress.
Those groups need to be replaced by local police as soon as possible.
I assured Dr. Fuad that we could help and that we would help.
Our contributions come in addition to other humanitarian assistance which we’ve provided
to Iraq, and it’s only fitting that today – World Humanitarian Day – that I can
announce that the USAID will provide an additional $204 million for lifesaving food, safe drinking
water, and health care for the Iraqi people.
We’re proud too of the private investments that are being made.
We look forward to the day when Iraq won’t need assistance, government assistance, and
will be fully supported by foreign investment and the own great work that the Iraqi people
do.
We want an Iraq that’s corruption-free, prosperous, and fully integrated into the
global economy.
I urged Baghdad to clinch a budget deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
We also had good discussion on Iraq’s energy sector, a major driver of economic activity
in Iraq.
We anticipate announcements on energy deals between U.S. companies and Iraqi Government
shortly.
In our political dialogue, I emphasized the importance of the rule of law, functioning
government, and regular electoral processes.
The United States supports the Iraqi Government as it prepares for early parliamentary elections.
We’re discussing ways to provide substantial support to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq
for just that purpose.
We talked too about how the United States and Iraq can work together to make Iraq more
safe and stable.
The United States is committed to supporting Iraq’s security forces, including through
the NATO Mission and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, to curb the power of militias
that have for far too long terrorized the Iraqi people and undermined Iraq’s national
sovereignty.
We can see a future when American tourists visit Iraq’s historical sites, when our
military men and women attend each other’s military staff colleges.
And towards these ends, we discussed how the United States could help preserve Iraq’s
rich cultural heritage and religious diversity, and support education in Iraq as well.
We share not only goals and sacrifices with our Iraqi friends, but also a vision and hope.
These ideals are the foundation for a thriving, steady partnership which is making good progress.
Thank you.
Dr. Fuad, the floor is yours.
FOREIGN MINISTER HUSSEIN: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Your Excellency, Mr.
Secretary, and thank you very much for the great reception.
Today, we launched the second round of the Strategic Dialogue between the delegations
of the Iraqi Government and the U.S.
Government.
And we had a good and important meeting with His Excellency the Secretary, and we talked
during the meeting about a series of issues that concern the situation of Iraq and the
bilateral relations, and the political situation in general and the regional situation, in
addition to issues pertaining to the economic ties and how to combat COVID.
And in the Strategic Dialogue that started today, there are some axis about these issues
and there has been a reaffirmation on the joint work on the different fields.
The United States of America and Iraq, we are both in the same trench in fighting ISIS,
and we are still in the same trench.
And we will work together to defeat the terrorist elements and the terrorist factions and the
armed terrorist groups in Iraq, and we reaffirmed that we will work continuously on this field,
which is combatting terrorism.
And we also reaffirmed during our talks the continuity of the talks and the dialogue in
order to reach common work on other fields, such as energy, and have the memoranda of
understanding and cooperation signed in this field, especially in terms of power, oil,
the health sector, education, higher education, health.
And these memoranda will be signed today.
The dialogue is continuous, and positive results will be the outcome of this dialogue for the
interest of both countries and both people.
I would like to thank His Excellency the Secretary for the great reception and for his time,
for the fruitful talks and for the fruitful results, and thank him very much for talking
about all of these issues.
MS ORTAGUS: We’ll go to questions now.
I will start with Zena Ibrahim from Al-Iraqiya.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
You discussed in the first strategical dialogue that there will be a reduction of U.S. forces
in Iraq.
Is there a timetable and is there specific numbers?
(Via interpreter) Your Excellency, is there any memoranda of understanding that could
be signed today pertaining the excavation in Nasiriyah?
SECRETARY POMPEO: So we don’t have any announcements to make with respect to numbers.
But I would urge everyone, as we’ve gone through this strategic dialogue, not to focus
on that.
The real focus is on the joint efforts that we’re making along every dimension, whether
that’s economic efforts, humanitarian assistance efforts, security assistance, all of those
things.
We continue to understand that the Iraqi people need that.
The Iraqi people’s sovereignty depends on continued American commitment to support them
and to provide that assistance to them.
We’re determined to do that.
FOREIGN MINISTER HUSSEIN: (Via interpreter) Regarding the signing of a memorandum of understanding
or an agreement with (inaudible), I believe that it will be signed today, yes.
MS ORTAGUS: Carol Morello, Washington Post.
Carol, there’s a microphone right behind you.
QUESTION: Oh.
Thank you.
Mr. Secretary, when will you be going to New York to begin the process of triggering snapback
sanctions against Iran?
And can you explain how you intend to enforce them without full Security Council backing?
They seem to have given every signal that they are simply going to ignore them.
And so what are you going to do to make it happen?
And, Mr. Foreign Minister, do you agree with the United States on the need for snapback
sanctions against Iran?
And how will that impact Iraq?
Thank you.
SECRETARY POMPEO: So, Carol, I don’t have any announcement on timing on when we’re
going to do – the President’s made clear we’re going to do that soon, and we will.
Second, these will be a fully valid, enforceable UN Security Council resolution.
We have every expectation that they’ll be enforced just like every other UN Security
Council resolution that is in place.
You have to remember, 2231 isn’t a U.S. document.
It is a UN Security Council document.
It has a set of provisions, it has a set of rights and obligations, and we will be in
full compliance with that, and we have every expectation that every country in the world
will live up to its obligations, including every member of the P5 and every member of
the UN that will take seriously the international commitments to which they have signed up for.
It’s the longstanding commitment of the United States to do that.
We are confident that every country will see that it is in their best interest that UN
Security Council Resolution 2231 is fully enforced as it is a valid, extant, continuing
set of obligations.
And so the enforcement mechanisms will be just the same enforcement mechanisms we have
for all of the UN Security Council resolutions.
FOREIGN MINISTER HUSSEIN: (Via interpreter) With respect to the United States policy vis-a-vis
Iran and the impact of this policy on the situation in Iraq, first of all, we are talking
about Iraqi policy.
And I am not here to talk about U.S. policy, so His Excellency the Secretary can talk about
the U.S. policy.
With respect to the Iraqi policy, we see that the United States of America is an ally, and
a strong ally for Iraq.
And we will continue to protect this alliance and to deepen it and expand it.
And regarding Iran, Iran is a neighboring country to Iraq, and as a result, there are
ties pertaining to geography, history, culture, economy, and the Iraqi policy, or Iraq’s
foreign policy, is based out of Iraq’s national interest.
We want to have good relations with our neighbors, provided that nobody interferes in Iraq’s
affairs and the Iraqi decision will be made by the Iraqis, and we want to protect our
alliances and relations with others, including the United States of America.
MS ORTAGUS: Thank you, everyone.
Have a great day.