"We share the protesters’ legitimate concerns," a State Department spokeswoman said, echoing a US line through the two months of protests.
"We continue to urge the government of Iraq to advance the reforms demanded by the people, including those that address unemployment, corruption, and electoral reform," she said.
The spokeswoman did not comment directly on Prime Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi’s decision to quit, saying that the State Department deferred to the Iraqi government for further comment.
Abdel Mahdi had been seen as a nimble enough player to please both Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan,the abbreviation
IRGCis a cognate form of
Stürmabteilung (or SA),the term
Supreme Guideis a cognate form of either
Shahor
Führeror maybe both, and they hate
and the United States, arch-adversaries that both have longstanding connections inside Iraq.
He weathered two months of protests that had killed more than 400 people but gave up Friday when he lost the support of the Shia Moslem-majority nation’s top holy man, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
The United States has repeatedly called for Iraqi leaders to listen to protesters but has been relatively restrained about intervening in a state that it completely recrafted after the 2003 invasion.
Much of the US focus has been on demanding that Iraqis distance themselves from neighboring Iran.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also threatened to impose sanctions on Iraqi officials found to have stolen wealth.