NATO’s ruling committee was to meet yesterday to discuss the future of the alliance’s training mission in Iraq as Middle East tensions mount after US forces killed a top Iranian general.
Ambassadors from the 29 allies were to gather at their Brussels headquarters at 3pm.
US officials were due to give an update on the situation after Washington killed Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.
Stoltenberg had spoken by telephone with US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper since Friday’s strike, but the killing of Soleimani surprised many of Washington’s allies and triggered calls for de-escalation.
The situation has also deteriorated in Iraq, where lawmakers have called for the 5,200 US soldiers deployed there to leave.
NATO maintains a 500-strong training mission in Iraq, preparing local forces to take on Islamic State group extremists, but this would be in doubt if coalition forces pull out.
“The big issue is the future of the NATO mission in Iraq after the demand of the Iraqi parliament yesterday to remove US-led coalition and foreign forces. We have to see what we will do now,” a NATO diplomat told reporters yesterday.
Tehran has vowed to avenge the commander, and US President Donald Trump has threatened “major retaliation” if any US targets are hit.
The UK, France and Germany issued a joint statement late on Sunday urging Iran to “refrain from further violent action or proliferation” and criticizing the “negative role” Tehran played in the Middle East through Soleimani’s forces.
Trump warned Iran of major US retaliation and threatened heavy sanctions on Iraq if US troops are forced to leave unless Baghdad repays billions in military base construction costs.
Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late on Sunday, said going into the Middle East was the worst decision the US has ever made.
“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. Long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it,” Trump said. “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”
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