Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is busy marshalling support for the United States in the region as Iraq becomes ground zero in the escalating feud between Washington and Tehran. Iran-backed militias may have ended their siege on the US Embassy in Baghdad, but more trouble may yet lie ahead for the troubled US-Iraqi security partnership.
Why it matters: Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has agreed to hold a vote on expelling American forces from Iraq under a deal reached with the Kataib Hezbollah militia, a potentially contentious point as the United States seeks to continue its maximum pressure campaign against Iran and continue its campaign against the lingering Islamic State cells.
