The department said in a statement that employees working in the US embassy in Baghdad and the US consulate in Erbil were instructed to leave Iraq, and that "normal visa services will be temporarily suspended at both posts."
It added that American Citizens Services employees who were working in the embassy in Baghdad "will continue to provide consular services to U.S. citizens in Basrah."
The department said the sudden changes were because the US government's "ability to provide routine and emergency services to US citizens in Iraq is extremely limited" and that as a result, the threat of "terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict" aimed at Americans in the country was too great a risk.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unannounced visit to Iraq last week amid escalating tensions with Iran.
While there, Pompeo said he spoke to Iraqi officials "about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it's able to adequately protect Americans in their country."
US officials have told CNN the US had "specific and credible" intelligence that suggested Iranian forces and proxies were planning to target US forces in locations including Iraq. That intelligence led the Pentagon to recommend a carrier strike group be moved to the region.
The State Department also said Wednesday that Americans "should not travel through Iraq to Syria to engage in armed conflict" as they may face similar threats in Syria and face "legal risks" from both the US and Syria.
The orders from the State Department come a day after US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement that the Pentagon has increased the threat risk for US troops in Iraq and Syria.
"US Central Command, in coordination with Operation Inherent Resolve, has increased the force posture level for all service members assigned to OIR in Iraq and Syria. As a result, OIR is now at a high level of alert as we continue to closely monitor credible and possibly imminent threats to US forces in Iraq," US Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Command, said in a statement Tuesday.
Urban's statement also pushed back against comments made earlier Tuesday by the deputy commander of the US-led military coalition against ISIS, UK Major Gen. Chris Ghika, who said "there has been no increased threat from Iranian backed forces in Iraq and Syria."
CNN's Ryan Browne and Jamie Crawford contributed to this report.
The US State Department on Wednesday ordered the departure of "non-emergency government employees" from Iraq, the US embassy in Baghdad said in a statement.
Referring to the embassy and the US consulate in Erbil, it said "normal visa services at both posts will be temporarily suspended. The US government has limited ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in Iraq".
The statement recommended those affected "depart by commercial transportation as soon as possible".
The alert comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, a sign of which was a US decision to send a Patriot missile battery and a Navy amphibious transport dock ship to the Middle East.
On Sunday, the embassy advised Americans to avoid travel to Iraq, citing "heightened tensions".
Last week, Washington said it had detected new and urgent threats from Iran and its proxy forces in the region targeting Americans and American interests. Washington last month blacklisted Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a 'terrorist group'.
The US administration reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports in November after President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran, Washington and major world powers.
On Wednesday, Iran said it would officially stop fulfilling some commitments under the 2015 deal following an order from its national security council, ISNA news agency reported.
An official in the country's atomic energy body told ISNA that Iran now would not limit its production of enriched uranium and heavy water.
The State Department has ordered all non-emergency personnel at the U.S. Embassy and consulate in Iraq to leave the country amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, the agency said in a security alert on its website early Wednesday morning. The alert also said that normal visa services would be temporarily suspended.
Last week, U.S. officials said urgent "credible threats" from Iran against Americans were detected and the embassy advised against all travel to the region, citing “heightened tensions.”
Iran has threatened to pull out of the nuclear deal and resume higher uranium enrichment if no new deal is put in place. The U.S. left the Iran nuclear deal last year.
Trump denied Tuesday that the administration was planning to send more than 100,000 troops to counter Iran if necessary.
(Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amber Smalley, U.S. Navy via AP)
On Tuesday, Trump denied that the administration was planning to send more than 100,000 troops to the region if necessary, but then said, "Would I do that? Absolutely ... If we did that, we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that.”
WASHINGTON — The State Department ordered a partial evacuation of the United States Embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday, responding to what the Trump administration said was a threat linked to Iran, one that has led to an accelerated movement of American ships and bombers into the Persian Gulf.
The department ordered “nonemergency U.S. government employees,” at both the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil, to leave the country. The order applies primarily to full-time diplomats posted to Iraq by State Department headquarters in Washington, and an embassy statement said that visa services in Iraq would be suspended as a result. Contractors who provide security, food and other such services will remain in place for now.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the administration had received intelligence related to “Iranian activity” that put American facilities and service personnel at “substantial risk.” Other American officials have said the same piece of intelligence points to potential attacks by Shiite Arab militias tied to Iran against American troops in Iraq or Syria.
Iraqi officials have voiced skepticism about the about the threat described by the Americans, and on Tuesday, so did the British deputy commander of the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, or ISIS.
“No, there’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria,” Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika, speaking from Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon by video link. There were dangers in the region that were constantly assessed, he said, referring to “noncompliant actors” among the militias, but those have not changed.
The Pentagon’s Central Command released a statement saying that General Ghika’s comments “run counter to the identified credible threats available to intelligence from U.S. and allies regarding Iranian backed forces in the region,” and that as a result, United States forces in Iraq were “now at a high level of alert.”
Mr. Pompeo made a surprise visit to Baghdad on May 7 to brief Iraqi leaders about the threat.
On May 5, John Bolton, the national security adviser, issued a statement warning against any attack by the Iranian military or a “proxy” against American interests or allies. Mr. Bolton said the United States was sending the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and bombers to the Persian Gulf. Other officials later said that the strike group’s movement to that area had been previously scheduled and was merely being sped up.
On Friday, the Pentagon said it was sending another ship and a Patriot antimissile battery to the Middle East.
The order for a partial evacuation of the Baghdad embassy, which at the height of the Iraq War was the largest in the American diplomatic system, adds to the rising tensions between the United States and Iran. It is unclear when the employees being evacuated will be told they can return.
In September, Mr. Pompeo ordered a full withdrawal from the American Consulate in Basra, in southern Iraq, after a few rockets landed around the grounds of the city’s airport, where the consulate is. The rockets did not cause any injuries. For more than a year beforehand, State Department officials had debated whether to shut down the consulate to save money, and some diplomats said the evacuation of the consulate was related to that.
The Trump administration blamed Shiite militias tied to Iran for the rocket attacks in Basra. It also said that those types of militias were responsible for rocket attacks around the same time in the area of the Baghdad embassy. As in Basra, the attacks in Baghdad did not injure anyone.
Tensions with Iran have been rising since May 2018, when President Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal that world powers reached with Tehran. The United States then reinstated major sanctions last November, and those have weakened the Iranian economy.
European nations are still in the nuclear deal and have urged Iran to stay committed to it, despite Mr. Trump’s provocations. Iran said last week that it would begin walking away from some of the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear activity.
Critics of the Trump administration, and of Mr. Bolton in particular, have suggested that American officials are presenting faulty intelligence to make a case for war against Iran, as the administration of President George W. Bush did in 2002 to justify the invasion of Iraq. Mr. Bolton was the under secretary of state for arms control and international security then, and he asserted that Saddam Hussein, the longtime ruler of Iraq, was trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.
WASHINGTON — The State Department ordered a partial evacuation of the United States Embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday, responding to what the Trump administration said was a threat linked to Iran, one that has led to an accelerated movement of American ships and bombers into the Persian Gulf.
The department ordered “nonemergency U.S. government employees,” at both the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil, to leave the country. The order applies primarily to full-time diplomats posted to Iraq by State Department headquarters in Washington, and an embassy statement said that visa services in Iraq would be suspended as a result. Contractors who provide security, food and other such services will remain in place for now.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the administration had received intelligence related to “Iranian activity” that put American facilities and service personnel at “substantial risk.” Other American officials have said the same piece of intelligence points to potential attacks by Shiite Arab militias tied to Iran against American troops in Iraq or Syria.
Iraqi officials have voiced skepticism about the about the threat described by the Americans, and on Tuesday, so did the British deputy commander of the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, or ISIS.
“No, there’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria,” Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika, speaking from Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon by video link. There were dangers in the region that were constantly assessed, he said, referring to “noncompliant actors” among the militias, but those have not changed.
The Pentagon’s Central Command released a statement saying that General Ghika’s comments “run counter to the identified credible threats available to intelligence from U.S. and allies regarding Iranian backed forces in the region,” and that as a result, United States forces in Iraq were “now at a high level of alert.”
Mr. Pompeo made a surprise visit to Baghdad on May 7 to brief Iraqi leaders about the threat.
On May 5, John Bolton, the national security adviser, issued a statement warning against any attack by the Iranian military or a “proxy” against American interests or allies. Mr. Bolton said the United States was sending the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and bombers to the Persian Gulf. Other officials later said that the strike group’s movement to that area had been previously scheduled and was merely being sped up.
On Friday, the Pentagon said it was sending another ship and a Patriot antimissile battery to the Middle East.
The order for a partial evacuation of the Baghdad embassy, which at the height of the Iraq War was the largest in the American diplomatic system, adds to the rising tensions between the United States and Iran. It is unclear when the employees being evacuated will be told they can return.
In September, Mr. Pompeo ordered a full withdrawal from the American Consulate in Basra, in southern Iraq, after a few rockets landed around the grounds of the city’s airport, where the consulate is. The rockets did not cause any injuries. For more than a year beforehand, State Department officials had debated whether to shut down the consulate to save money, and some diplomats said the evacuation of the consulate was related to that.
The Trump administration blamed Shiite militias tied to Iran for the rocket attacks in Basra. It also said that those types of militias were responsible for rocket attacks around the same time in the area of the Baghdad embassy. As in Basra, the attacks in Baghdad did not injure anyone.
Tensions with Iran have been rising since May 2018, when President Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal that world powers reached with Tehran. The United States then reinstated major sanctions last November, and those have weakened the Iranian economy.
European nations are still in the nuclear deal and have urged Iran to stay committed to it, despite Mr. Trump’s provocations. Iran said last week that it would begin walking away from some of the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear activity.
Critics of the Trump administration, and of Mr. Bolton in particular, have suggested that American officials are presenting faulty intelligence to make a case for war against Iran, as the administration of President George W. Bush did in 2002 to justify the invasion of Iraq. Mr. Bolton was the under secretary of state for arms control and international security then, and he asserted that Saddam Hussein, the longtime ruler of Iraq, was trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq says the State Department has ordered all non-essential, non-emergency government staff to leave the country right away amid escalating tensions with Iran.
The alert, published on the embassy’s website on Wednesday, comes after Washington last week said it had detected new and urgent threats from Iran and its proxy forces in the region targeting Americans and American interests.
On Sunday, the embassy advised Americans to avoid travel to Iraq, citing “heightened tensions.”
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is running out of options to hit back at the United States without hurting its own interests, as Washington intensifies pressure on Beijing to correct trade imbalances in a challenge to China’s state-led economic model.
FILE PHOTO: Containers are seen at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
China said this week it would impose higher tariffs on most U.S. imports on a revised $60 billion target list. That’s a much shorter list compared with the $200 billion of Chinese products on which Washington has hiked tariffs.
Washington has also turned up the heat on other fronts, from targeting China’s tech firms such as Huawei and ZTE to sending warships through the strategic Taiwan Strait.
As the pressure mounts, Chinese leaders are pressing ahead to seal a deal and avoid a drawn-out trade war that risks stalling China’s long-term economic development, according to people familiar with their thinking.
But Beijing is mindful of a possible nationalistic backlash if it is seen as conceding too much to Washington.
Agreeing to U.S. demands to end subsidies and tax breaks for state-owned firms and strategic sectors would also overturn China’s state-led economic model and weaken the Communist Party’s grip on the economy, they said.
“We still have ammunition but we may not use all of it,” said a policy insider, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
“The purpose is to reach a deal acceptable to both sides.”
The State Council Information Office, finance ministry and commerce ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Of the retaliatory options available to China, none come without potential risks.
RESTRICTING U.S. IMPORTS
Since July last year, China has cumulatively imposed additional retaliatory tariffs of up to 25 percent on about $110 billion of U.S. goods.
Based on 2018 U.S. Census Bureau trade data, China would only have about $10 billion of U.S. products, such as crude oil and big aircraft, left to levy duties on in retaliation for any future U.S. tariffs.
In contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening tariffs on a further $300 billion of Chinese goods.
The only other items Beijing could tax would be imports of U.S. services. The United States had a services trade surplus with China of $40.5 billion in 2018.
But China does not have as much leverage over the United States as it might seem because large parts of that surplus are in tourism and education, areas that would be more difficult for the Chinese government to significantly roll back, James Green, a senior adviser at McLarty Associates, told Reuters.
China is more likely to further erect non-tariff barriers on U.S. goods, such as delaying regulatory approvals for agricultural products, said Green, who until August was the top U.S. Trade Representative official at the embassy in Beijing.
HURTING U.S. FIRMS
Trade analysts say China could reward other global companies at the expense of U.S. firms, replacing for example Boeing planes with Airbus jets where possible.
But there is considerable risk for China in transitioning its retaliation from tariffs to non-tariffs barriers on U.S. companies because doing so would intensify perceptions of an uneven playing field in China and incentivise some firms to shift sourcing or investment outside the country, they say.
Trump has called for U.S. firms to move production back to the United States.
“The medium- to long-term ramifications on supply chains are being deeply underestimated. I would be severely concerned if I was China,” Robert Lawrence, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, recently told journalists in Beijing, where a group from the think-tank met with senior Chinese officials.
After trade negotiations hit a wall last week and led to the imposition of new tariffs, Chinese state media has stepped up nationalist rhetoric, vowing that China won’t be bullied.
But analysts say Beijing, at least for the time being, is trying to keep the trade war from seeping into the larger political arena.
“I don’t think they see that as in their interests, and are worried that anti-Americanism becomes anti-regime very quickly,” said Green.
DEVALUING THE YUAN
A weaker yuan could help mitigate the impact on China’s exports from higher U.S. tariffs, but any sharp yuan depreciation could spur capital flight, analysts say.
Chinese leaders have repeatedly said they will not resort to yuan depreciation to boost exports, and the central bank has said it will not use the currency as a tool to cope with trade frictions.
The yuan has lost just over 2 percent against the dollar so far this month as the trade war intensifies, but analysts said the depreciation is likely to be market-driven.
DUMPING U.S. TREASURIES
Investors are concerned that China, which is the largest foreign U.S. creditor, may dump Treasury bonds and send U.S. borrowing costs higher to punish the Trump administration.
But most analysts say such an action by China is unlikely as it risks starting a fire sale that would burn its own portfolio too.
China’s massive Treasury holdings totaled $1.131 trillion in February, according to the latest U.S. data.
CIRCUMVENTING THE U.S.
The near-term shock to China’s economy from higher U.S. tariffs could be mitigated by increased policy stimulus to spur domestic demand.
Chinese exporters are diversifying overseas sales, helped in part by Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative to recreate the old Silk Road.
Slideshow (2 Images)
To meet its demand for raw materials, China is also seeking alternative overseas suppliers.
Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans - once China’s biggest import item from the United States - came to a virtual halt after Beijing slapped 25% tariffs on U.S. shipments last year.
Beijing has since scooped up soybeans from Brazil.
Reporting by Kevin Yao and Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Hallie Gu; Editing by Ryan Woo & Shri Navaratnam
