BAGHDAD: More than a month after Iraq’s parliamentary elections, the country’s top leaders remain locked in talks to form a government while facing pressure from Washington to exclude “Tehran-backed armed groups”.
Amid seismic changes in the Middle East, where new alliances are forming and old powers waning, Iraqi leaders face a daunting task: navigating relations with US-blacklisted pro-Iranian factions.
What does the US want?
The US has held significant sway over Iraqi politics since leading the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
But another spectre also haunts Iraq’s halls of power: Iran.
