The U.S. military is “not in Iraq to seize anybody’s oil”, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said as he arrived for talks with Iraqi leaders on Monday, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump. Mattis was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Iraq since Trump irked Iraqis with a temporary ban on travel to the United States and for saying America should have seized Iraq’s oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Category: Middle East Travel
Airports Gripped by Confusion as Courts Limit Trump Travel Curbs
Confusion reigned Sunday at airports in the Middle East and Europe over exactly which citizens from the seven nations subject to President Donald Trump’s travel ban are still permitted to fly to the U.S. Airlines at hubs from Dubai to London Heathrow were grappling with the implications of two court rulings in the U.S. late Saturday that have temporarily blocked the enforcement of parts of Trump’s executive order. In the hours after the presidential edict many airports imposed blanket bans on U.S. travel for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, with Amsterdam Schiphol turning away seven people with valid visas, and Cairo denying boarding to migrants accompanied by United Nations officials.