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Iraq may stand to benefit from heightened US-Iran tensions
Posted without comment because I lack the vocabulary.
[Rudaw] Iraq could stand to benefit from "gigantic" economic deals with US companies if it capitalises on elevated tension as Baghdad tries to maintain a balancing act, suggested American analyst David Pollock in Rudaw's most recent episode of The Washington Perspective.

Pollock is the Bernstein Fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on regional political dynamics and related issues. He is also the director of Project Fikra, the Institute's think-tank aimed at countering the spread of extremism in the Middle East.

Pollock's comments come amid a period of "deliberate heightened tension" between the two countries. The United States' application of "maximum pressure" in the form of hardline policies like its withdrawal from the JCPOA (more widely known as the Iran nuclear deal) last year, the re-imposition of ever-growing sanctions since November, the designation of the 120,000-strong Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, and the deployment of warships to the Persian Gulf have sparked fury in Iran. Iran has retaliated by setting a 60-day deadline for new terms for its nuclear deal on May 8.
Posted by: trailing wife 2019-05-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=541124