Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Monday he would sign a bilateral security deal with Britain as well as a strategic partnership accord as he headed to London for an official visit against a backdrop of historic shifts in the Middle East.
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Iraq is trying to avoid becoming a conflict zone once again amid a period of regional upheaval that has seen Iran’s allies Hamas degraded in Gaza, Hezbollah battered in Lebanon and Bashar al-Assad ousted in Syria.
A rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, Iraq’s balancing act has been tested by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups’ attacks on Israel and on US troops in the country in the aftermath of the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7, 2023.
That has led to several rounds of tit-for-tat strikes that have since been contained, but some Iraqi officials fear an escalation after US president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
“It is definitely an important timing, both as it concerns the path of Iraq’s relations with the UK and as a result of the development of the [regional] situation, which requires more consultations,” Sudani told Reuters on Monday while en route from Baghdad to London.
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Sudani said the security deal between the UK and Iraq would develop bilateral military ties after last year’s announcement that the US-led coalition set up to fight Islamic State would end its work in Iraq in 2026.
The UK, Iraq’s former colonial ruler, is a key member of the coalition.