Overview
- Iceland's Foreign Ministry asked the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavík to verify reports that nominee Billy Long joked Iceland would become the 52nd state and that he would be its governor.
- An online petition urging Foreign Minister Katrín Gunnarsdóttir to reject Long's appointment had about 4,100 signatures by Friday morning, according to local reports.
- Long told Arctic Today the remark was intended as humor and apologized to anyone offended.
- The former Missouri congressman has been nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Ambassador Carrin Patman.
- The episode unfolds against ongoing friction over U.S. statements about acquiring Greenland, which Icelandic figures such as MP Sigmar Guðmundsson say heightens security concerns for small states.