Al-Abadi on Pompeos remarks: lies and tittle-tattle

Shafaq News/ Iraq's former prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, on Saturday slammed Mike Pompeo, who served as US secretary of state under then-President Donald Trump, over allegations he mentioned in his recently released biography, dismissing them as "lies and tittle-tattle".

In a chapter about Iran's General Qasem Soleimani, Pompeo cited a conversation between him and al-Abadi in an alleged meeting in 2017.

Pompeo stated that he proposed that Iraq stops importing electricity from Iran in exchange for US financial support, warning that the only other option is sanctions.

Pompeo said Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi looked at him seriously and said, "Mr. Director, when you leave, Qassem Soleimani will come to see me. You may take my money, but he will take my life itself."

"Al-Nasr alliance unequivocally and categorically denies the remarks made by former US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, against al-Abadi, and deems it a manifestation of the inter-partisan conflict in the US," an official statement said.

"Pompeos remarks about al-Abadi are merely slander," the statement said, "a simple review of history proves Pompeo's account wrong. The joint comprehensive plan P5+1 with Iran was adopted on October 18, 2015. As a result, the US sanctions on Iran were lifted on January 16, 2016. On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that his country will withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal. The US reinstated the sanctions in November 2018, and expanded them in 2019 and 2020 to the Iranian financial sector."

"What Pompeo said did not exist in 2017; there were no financial sanctions on supplying Iraq with electricity from Iran...How did Pompeo make such a demand, and the sanctions were not even there?"

"In addition, Pompeo did not visit Iraq in 2017. As a matter of fact, he did not visit Iraq until early 2019," the statement continued.

"Therefore, Pompeo's account contrasts facts and the true course of events. Those lies are more offensive to US officeholders than to Iraqi officeholders themselves. Pompeo's rumor-mongering about Soleimani threatening Iraq's highest authority is merely a pretext to justify the assassination that represents a violation of Iraq's sovereignty."

"We challenge any US institution to show a document that officially proves any of those allegations," the statement continued.

"Iraq's administration between 2014-2018 has proven over many years that it was not involved in the regional and international war of axes. It managed to invest in the contradictions to achieve Iraq's interests in both war and peace," the statement said," Scared people cannot lead a country and win. Thanks to the people's steadfastness and the wisdom of administration and command, we triumphed in our battles against terrorism, division, bankruptcy, and subservience."

"As we refute the statements attributed to Pompeo about Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, we denounce, with the strongest terms, this unjustifiable insult to Iraq," the statement concluded

Shafaq News/ Iraq's former prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, on Saturday slammed Mike Pompeo, who served as US secretary of state under then-President Donald Trump, over allegations he mentioned in his recently released biography, dismissing them as "lies and tittle-tattle".

In a chapter about Iran's General Qasem Soleimani, Pompeo cited a conversation between him and al-Abadi in an alleged meeting in 2017.

Pompeo stated that he proposed that Iraq stops importing electricity from Iran in exchange for US financial support, warning that the only other option is sanctions.

Pompeo said Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi looked at him seriously and said, "Mr. Director, when you leave, Qassem Soleimani will come to see me. You may take my money, but he will take my life itself."

"Al-Nasr alliance unequivocally and categorically denies the remarks made by former US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, against al-Abadi, and deems it a manifestation of the inter-partisan conflict in the US," an official statement said.

"Pompeos remarks about al-Abadi are merely slander," the statement said, "a simple review of history proves Pompeo's account wrong. The joint comprehensive plan P5+1 with Iran was adopted on October 18, 2015. As a result, the US sanctions on Iran were lifted on January 16, 2016. On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that his country will withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal. The US reinstated the sanctions in November 2018, and expanded them in 2019 and 2020 to the Iranian financial sector."

"What Pompeo said did not exist in 2017; there were no financial sanctions on supplying Iraq with electricity from Iran...How did Pompeo make such a demand, and the sanctions were not even there?"

"In addition, Pompeo did not visit Iraq in 2017. As a matter of fact, he did not visit Iraq until early 2019," the statement continued.

"Therefore, Pompeo's account contrasts facts and the true course of events. Those lies are more offensive to US officeholders than to Iraqi officeholders themselves. Pompeo's rumor-mongering about Soleimani threatening Iraq's highest authority is merely a pretext to justify the assassination that represents a violation of Iraq's sovereignty."

"We challenge any US institution to show a document that officially proves any of those allegations," the statement continued.

"Iraq's administration between 2014-2018 has proven over many years that it was not involved in the regional and international war of axes. It managed to invest in the contradictions to achieve Iraq's interests in both war and peace," the statement said," Scared people cannot lead a country and win. Thanks to the people's steadfastness and the wisdom of administration and command, we triumphed in our battles against terrorism, division, bankruptcy, and subservience."

"As we refute the statements attributed to Pompeo about Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, we denounce, with the strongest terms, this unjustifiable insult to Iraq," the statement concluded