US' Pompeo congratulates Iraq's new FM

By Safvan Allahverdi

WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated Iraq's newly appointed foreign minister via telephone Thursday.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Pompeo congratulated Mohammed Ali al-Hakim and said "he looked forward to working closely with him to help his government deliver stability, security, and prosperity for all Iraqis and to continue to improve Iraq’s relations with the United States and Iraq’s neighbors in the broader region."

As a result of elections in early October, Barham Salih was inaugurated as Iraq’s president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi became prime minister and al-Hakim is the country’s foreign minister.