Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Iraq to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Sunday following the secretary’s visits to Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.
Blinken told reporters that his meeting with the Iraqi prime minister was productive and said he emphasized the need to prevent spillover from the conflict in Gaza.
“I made very clear that the attacks, the threats coming from militia that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable,” Blinken said. “We’re not looking for conflict with Iran. We’ve made that very clear. But we’ll do what’s necessary to protect our personnel.”
“We’re working very hard to make sure that the conflict in Gaza does not escalate, does not spread to other places, whether it’s here, whether it’s elsewhere in the region,” he said.
Blinken was asked about Arab leaders’ instance that nothing short of a total cease-fire would be acceptable.
“I think everyone would welcome humanitarian pauses — there’s no doubt about that,” Blinken responded.
He said pauses “advance things that we’re all trying to accomplish,” including getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza, getting people out of Gaza and getting hostages home.
On his meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken said the PA was “playing a very important role right now in the West Bank in trying to keep stability there.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
