Iraqi President Barham Salih said he had a very good and candid conversation with US President Donald Trump at Davos today, in which Salih said he repeatedly urged restraint and stressed that the region cannot afford another conflict. His comments referred especially to the US-Iran escalation that has ramped up amid the Trump administration “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, and in particular after the US killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike at the Baghdad airport earlier this month.

“This is a dangerous moment,” the Iraqi president, who is a Kurd, said in a question and answer session with journalist Fareed Zakaria following Salih’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today. “The Middle East does not need another conflict.”

“We have had a very good conversation with the president [Trump], and we had a very candid conversation [about] the need for basically restraint, calming things down,” Salih continued. “This is not time for another conflict. In my conversations with many actors in the region, everybody, everybody, almost everybody is saying, ‘This is getting out of hand. Please cool it down. Restraint.’”

Iraq, coming out of 40 years of conflict and the recent US-led fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS), needs to focus on jobs, education, infrastructure and good governance, and not squander resources in more conflict, Salih said.