Donald Trump's alleged threat to cut Iraq's access to its Federal Reserve Bank's account amounts to a violation of Baghdad's independence and sovereignty, says American investigative journalist Mark Dankof recalling that Iraq has been in US crosshairs since Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
The Trump administration has threatened Iraq that it would sever Baghdad's access to its key account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York if the country expels US troops, as the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing Iraqi officials.
Following the targeted drone assassination of Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, near Baghdad airport on 3 January the Iraqi parliament voted in favour of expelling US forces from the country. In response to the Iraqi parliament's move, Donald Trump dropped a hint that he would slap severe sanctions on Baghdad.
Iraq's outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said on 7 January that American troops should leave the country to avoid a further escalation of tensions between Tehran and Washington.
“In the case of Iraq, the threat to terminate their central banking account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York unless the American military presence is maintained is a clear threat to the existence of Iraq as an independent, sovereign nation state, as in the case of the NATO invasion of Libya and extra-judicial assassination of [Muammar]…
