Protecting Iraq’s Sovereignty amid Geopolitical Tensions around Iran
The US airstrike that killed the commander of Iran’s Qods Force, Qassem Soleimani, as well as the chief of staff of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, is an act of aggression that lacks legitimacy and further undermines Iraq’s fragile sovereignty. Because the assassination also negatively impacts the prospects of reform-oriented protests, it paradoxically plays into the hands of the very pro-Iranian hardliners inside Iraq, which the Trump administration seeks to weaken.
