SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq denounced on Saturday as “unacceptable” a U.S. decision to blacklist the leader of a state umbrella group for mainly Iran-backed Shia militia.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday that it was blacklisting Falih al-Fayyadh, chairman of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Committee (PMC). It accused him of being part of a crisis cell formed in the late 2019 to suppress protests with the support of Iran’s revolutionary guards Quds force.
“We confirm that the decision was an unacceptable surprise,” the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The ministry added that it would “carefully follow up with the current and the new administration in Washington on all decisions issued by the U.S. Treasury Department against Iraqis.”
Earlier on Saturday, Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji called on the United States to reconsider its decision to blacklist Fayyadh.
“We call on the U.S. Treasury Department to correct its mistake by deciding to impose sanctions on an Iraqi government figure,” Araji said in a tweet.
Iraq is a close military ally of both the United States and Iran, which have battled for influence there since a U.S.-led invasion in 2003 toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Both countries supplied military support to Baghdad to fight against Islamic State militants from 2014-2017. The United States still has thousands of troops in Iraq, while Iran still supports the PMF.
The United States killed Fayyadh’s predecessor as PMF leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a year ago in a drone strike at Baghdad airport, along with Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general leading operations among Tehran’s allies in the region.
The PMF congratulated Fayyad for his blacklisting in a statement late on Friday, saying that he had joined “the honourable ones whom the U.S. administration regards as enemies”. He was also praised by the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
On Thursday an Iraqi court issued an arrest warrant for U.S. President Donald Trump, as part of an investigation into the killing of Soleimani and Muhandis. Tens of thousands of supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups took to the streets this week to mark the anniversary of the killing.
