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Iraqi FM says unless US stops Israel, conflict in Gaza will 'burn all of us'

Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein worries that the conflict in Gaza will drag on and expand beyond Israel’s borders.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein talks to the press during a EU-Iraq Cooperation Council, at the European Council Building in Brussels on March 19, 2023.

DAHUK, Iraq — Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the United States needs to put more pressure on Israel to end the conflict in Gaza, just as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani urges Shiite militias to stop targeting US military installations in the country amid a surge in such attacks.

In an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the annual Middle East Peace and Security Forum organized by the American University of Kurdistan in Dahuk, Hussein said, “I am not talking about the United States not doing enough to end the conflict. I am talking about it being time for the United States to put pressure on the Israelis for the war to stop because the United States is the only country that has an impact on the Israeli government.”

Hussein said that in his discussions with US officials, their primary focus was on delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza and opening humanitarian corridors.

Without a sustainable cease-fire, “none of this means a lot,” he said, stressing that the Palestinian people should enjoy the right to self determination.

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