US and Iraq Discuss Enhanced Security Cooperation in Wake of Iranian Missile Strike

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Masrour Barzani, leader of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss enhanced security cooperation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Iraq.
Sullivan and Sudani emphasized the importance of halting attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria and committed to building stronger security cooperation as part of a sustainable long-term defense partnership.
Iran has maintained that their missile attack was aimed at Israeli intelligence services operating within Iraqi Kurdistan and ISIS positions in Syria, a claim disputed by Iraq who condemned the strike as a violation of their sovereignty.
The meeting between Sullivan, Sudani, and Barzani also touched on the importance of resuming oil exports and maintaining financial flows from federal Iraq to the Kurdistan region in support of the region’s stability and livelihoods.
The discussions come in the wake of an ISIS suicide bombing near the tomb of Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani in Kerman, Iran, which resulted in approximately 90 fatalities.