iraq's foreign minister mohammad al hakim met u.s. diplomats in baghdad on wednesday night for what the foreign ministry said which talks about promoting bilateral ties resolving regional crises and tackling terrorism but no one in iraq is on the any illusion about what that means the increasing pressure by the u.s. on iraq's neighbor and big east regional ally iran. iraq's politics economy military and majority shia population shared deep geo political and religious ties with iran the more pressure that mounts on the iranian government the more difficult it becomes for u.s. ally in iraq u.s. secretary of state mike pompei a came to iraq on an unscheduled visit on tuesday because of what he said were specific threats to americans in iraq the statement was directed towards what the u.s. calls iran's proxy forces officially there are around sixty thousand iraqi fighters with pro iran armed groups in iraq known as a popular mobilization forces ohashi the xabi they were highly effective in the battle against eisel in iraq and syria and we

states wraps up its rhetoric against what it calls the every knee and threats foreign minister mohammad al hakim made the pledge following talks with his reigning counterparts matheson reports now from baghdad. if mohammed java jerry for came to baghdad to clarify where iraq stands in the ongoing tension between the u.s. and iran iraq's foreign minister seems to have given him an answer. against the unilateral measures taken by the us we are standing by iran in its position and god willing we can play an intermediary role between the parties if necessary. iran's foreign minister has proposed signing a non-aggression pact with gulf neighbors but iran says it will take action if necessary. we will defend ourselves against any efforts for a war with iran whether it is a military or economic one that would victimize the iranian people we will face it was strength and resistance iran and iraq have close ties to trade culture and religion but iraq relies on u.s. and foreign troops to combat the threat of ice all added needs foreign investment especially to develop its oil fields iraq has been doing a

foreign minister mohammad javad zarif was here just a few days ago the iraqi foreign minister mohammad al hakim told him that iraq was opposed to u.s. sanctions on iran and opposed to any one sided action by the united states but of course iraq also needs the support of united states troops and those from other foreign countries as it tries to deal with the ongoing threat from i so the question is now how saudi arabia and its allies are likely to react to this saudi arabia back in early april offered a $1000000000.00 worth of development funds as a loan to iraq it also offered it $500000000.00 to help its export market and it also offered to build for free 100000 seater sports stadium just outside of baghdad so that is a significant amount of economic pressure that could be brought iraq once again finding itself in the center of a conflict it does not want to be part of sudan's military council says the protest in the capital khartoum is a danger to the country demonstrators have been staging a sit in outside the military headquarters for weeks they want the generals to hand over power to a civ

says it will stand with iran in its escalating disputes with the us iraq's foreign minister mohammad al hakim made the pledge only talks with his iranian counterparts to have a job. no one has successfully registered to stand upcoming presidential election in july 77 potential candidates said they intended to run for the top job but almost all of them failed to get the required number of signatures. and it's the final day of forcing and europe's parliament. the elections which are being closely watched as a barometer of strength of the far right across the continent voters are casting their ballots in $21.00 member states including germany france and italy. as syrian government forces are being accused of attacking rebel areas with the band in century white phosphorous video is said to show the attacks in southern italy syrian forces and russian airstrikes really launched attacks on the last major area of rebel held territory last month. we're getting reports from northern nigeria that an armed group has ambushed a military convoy killing at least 20 people it happens while the army was tryin

iraqi foreign minister mohammad al hakim met with u.s. diplomats here in baghdad last night for talks what the foreign minister described were focused on promoting bilateral tie and efforts towards solving regional crises and up routing terrorism but nobody here is under any illusions as to the focus of those talks and that namely is the increasing pressure by washington on neighboring iran that meeting came after we saw the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei or come on an unscheduled visit because of what he described as increasing stret against americans here in iraq specific threats he said though he declined to give more details we know there are around five thousand two hundred american troops still inside iraq and it's believed the pompei was directing that statement towards the officially at least around sixty thousand members of the shabby those of the iranian backed armed groups that were so highly effective in the battle against eisel of course a battle that was led by the the u.s. coalition interestingly last night there was a

iraq's foreign minister mohammad al hakim met u.s. diplomats in baghdad on wednesday night for what the foreign ministry said which talks about promoting bilateral ties resolving regional crises and tackling terrorism but no one in iraq is on the any illusion about what that means the increasing pressure by the u.s. on iraq's neighbor and big east regional ally iran iraq's politics economy military and majority shia population shared deep geo political and religious ties with iran the more pressure that mounts on the iranian government the more difficult it becomes for u.s. ally in iraq. u.s. secretary of state mike pompei a came to iraq on an on schedule visit on tuesday because of what he said were specific threats to americans in iraq the statement was directed towards what the u.s. calls iran's proxy forces officially there are around sixty thousand iraqi fighters with pro iran armed groups in iraq known as a popular mobilization forces ohashi the xabi they were highly effective in the battle against eisel in iraq and syria and we

united states ramps up the rhetoric against what it calls the iranian threats foreign minister mohammad al hakim made the pledge following talks with his iranian counterpart so how much of its early. all of the chicken while the what are you we are clearly saying that we are against the unilateral measures taken by the us we are completely against these instructions and orders given to our neighbor iran we are standing by iran in its position and god willing we can play an intermediary role between the parties if necessary. we will defend ourselves against any efforts for a war with iran whether it is a military or economic one that would victimize the iranian people we will face it was strength and resistance no one has successfully registered to stand in algeria's upcoming presidential election in july 77 potential candidates said they intended to run for the top job but almost all of them failed to get the number of signatures required to stands. as the final day of forcing a year of parliamentary elections they're being closely watched as a barometer of the strength of the far right across t

mohamad as that if i was here just a few days ago and at that time the iraqi foreign minister mohammad al hakim said that iraq was opposed to one sided action by the united states and it was a rash it was opposed to u.s. sanctions on iran so that message fairly clear as far as where it comes to iraq standing with regard to iran but of course iraq also needs troops and support from the united states and other foreign countries when we're dealing with the ongoing threat from my soul so once again iraq is finding itself in the middle of this very tense situation between the united states and its allies and iran is iraq it's all concerned that that position being at all this with saudi arabia and the u.s. could damage its relations with them both. i think that central to its concern i mean the principal concern is actually the fact that if there is any conflict between the united states and its allies and iran that iraq will be caught in the middle of it but certainly it is also concerned that there is going to be an enormous amount of pressure put on the on iraq in order to try to be encouraged to

foreign minister mohammad javad zarif was here just a few days ago the iraqi foreign minister mohammad al hakim told him that iraq was opposed to u.s. sanctions on iran and opposed to any one sided action by the united states but of course iraq also needs the support of united states troops and those from other foreign countries as it tries to deal with the ongoing threat from i so the question is now how saudi arabia and its allies are likely to react to this saudi arabia back in early april offered $1000000000.00 worth of development funds as a loan to iraq it also offered it $500000000.00 to help its export market and it also offered to build for free 100000 seater sports stadium just outside of baghdad so that is a significant amount of economic pressure that could be brought iraq once again finding itself in the center of a conflict it does not want to be part of sudan's military council says the protests in the capital are a danger to the country demonstrators have been staging sit ins outside the military headquarters for weeks they want the generals to hand over power to a civilian admi

the last few years indeed when iran's foreign minister mohammad javad zarif was here just a few days ago the iraqi foreign minister mohammed al hakim told him that iraq was opposed to u.s. sanctions on iran and opposed to any one sided action by the united states but of course iraq also needs the support of united states troops and those from other foreign countries as it tries to deal with the ongoing threat from ice on the question is now how saudi arabia and its allies are likely to react to this saudi arabia back in early april of 1 1000000000 dollars worth of development funds as a loan to iraq it also offered it $500000000.00 to help its export market and it also offered to build for free 100000 seater sports stadium just outside of baghdad so that is a significant amount of economic pressure that could be brought iraq once again finding itself in the center of a conflict it does not want to be part of the u.s. secretary of state is in berlin for his 1st official visit with the german chancellor mike pompei oh and i'm glad merkel are expected to discuss the rising tension between the u.s. and iran germany is part of the 2015

at the top stories now the iranian foreign minister mohammad javad zarif as arrived in baghdad for talks with his iraqi counterpart mohamed al hakim as tensions continue to rise between iran and the united states sorry for said the u.s. decision to send more soldiers to the middle east is extremely dangerous but president onil trump insists the deployment of $1500.00 troops is needed to improve the defense of his country and its allies against iran u.s. senator dianne feinstein who sits on the senate intelligence committee met with very early this week al-jazeera is alan fisher has more on that from washington. well the meeting is it's not unique but it is unusual that a democratic senator when there's a republican president would be meeting someone from iran and certainly dianne feinstein's office she is a senator from california they're seeing that the form of the state department of the meeting before happened and happened over a month ago the intention was that they would get a briefing of us and the rather fears of course in that month things have changed significantly. all in all the headlines at least 14 fighters loyal to w

predominantly shia and recently when the iranian foreign minister mohammad javad zarif was here the iraqi foreign minister mohammed al hakim said iraq was opposed to the u.s. sanctions on iran and it was also opposed to any unilateral or one sided action by the u.s. but of course iraq is in a very difficult position because being loyal to iran is one thing and iran of course has made significant investment in the country but of course iraq also needs troops from the u.s. and other foreign countries to be able to deal with the ongoing crisis that the country is facing at the moment from the threat from isis so this is really putting iraq in a very difficult position right in the center here's what the iraqi president had to say. if you have one you have a love. for what are. in the midst of this tense time and rapidly changing developments in a regional and international environment full of tension experts we are watching before our eyes the escalation of a regional and international crisis which can turn and turn war if they're willing gulf us all if the crisis is not managed well then we will be faced with the danger of a

headlines on al-jazeera iraq's leaders are vowing to stand with iran after the united states ramped up its rhetoric against what it calls the iranian threats foreign minister mohammad hakim made the pledge following talks with his iranian counterparts. what we are clearly saying that we are against the unilateral measures taken by the u.s. we are completely against these instructions and given to our neighboring iran we are standing by iran in its position and god willing we can play into media between the parties if necessary voting is in its final stages throughout europe as the continent decides on the makeup of its next parliament polls have closed in germany were early results suggest the governing parties have lost ground with big gains for the greens and small gains for the far rights algeria's new state prosecutors pursuing corruption charges against a dozen high ranking figures from the government of the former president. they include former prime minister. and as well as 5 former cabinet ministers their files have been referred to the supreme courts at least 4 people have been killed in a church attack in burkina faso it happened in the village of tool from the