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The head of the NATO mission in Iraq insisted Thursday that the recent increase in tension between the US and Iran has not hampered the alliance's work in the country.
Washington ordered the evacuation of non-emergency staff from its Baghdad embassy last month due to an alleged growing threat from Iranian-linked Iraqi militias, while Germany and the Netherlands suspended their training missions.
But Canadian General Dany Fortin, who leads NATO's 500-strong training and advisory mission in Iraq, said his forces had "sufficiently mitigated" the threat and were able to continue working.
"There's no doubt there's still risk and as reported in the media in the last few weeks there was a critical threat, cause for concern for the US and for all of us," Fortin told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"We have force protection measures in place to ensure that we're vigilant, unpredictable, we change things, but we can continue our activities. So it hasn't affected our advising, our training activities whatsoever."
The NATO mission aims to train local Iraqi forces and improve military education centres to try to avoid a repeat of 2014, when the so-called Islamic State group seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.
Fortin said the aim was to create a "self-sustainable" system of forces and training in Iraq, adding that he hoped this could be achieved in three to four years.
The US evacuation order last month came after the Pentagon deployed a carrier task force and B-52 bombers to the Gulf to deter an unspecified threat from Tehran to US forces or allies.
Despite international scepticism, the US government has been pointing to increasing threats from Iran, a long-time enemy and rival of US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Washington has also decided to deploy an extra 1,500 troops to the region, while stepping up economic sanctions against Tehran.
The swingeing economic penalties came after the US pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, imperilling an accord that many of Washington's allies say is the best way to stop Tehran developing atomic weapons.
New US ambassador meets with Iraqi FM in Baghdad
Baghdad (AFP) June 9, 2019 -
The new US ambassador in Baghdad submitted his credentials to Iraq's top diplomat, the foreign ministry announced Sunday, joining the embassy just weeks after Washington brought "non-essential" diplomatic staff home.
Matthew Tueller has served as US ambassador to both Yemen and Kuwait, and had been previously posted in Baghdad as a political adviser at the American embassy.
On Sunday, Tueller submitted his diplomatic credentials to Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim, who said Baghdad would "guarantee all necessary conditions for the success of his mission".
The US Senate confirmed Tueller's appointment in Iraq in mid-May, a day after the State Department announced it was withdrawing all "non-essential" members from its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Arbil.
The move came amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran that have repeatedly seen Iraq -- an ally of both countries -- caught in the middle.
The US withdrew from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year, then reinstated tough sanctions on the Islamic republic.
In April, it designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a "terrorist organisation," prompting Iran to slap US troops across the region with the same designation.
And last month, the US deployed a carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf over unspecified Iranian "threats" and a rocket landed in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy is based.
It sparked fears of a spillover into Iraq, which relies heavily on Iran for energy and consumer goods and where various Shiite armed groups have close ties to Tehran.
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