Newsdeck: U.S. Pulls Iraq Embassy Staff as Tensions Climb Higher Over Iran

Most employees at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil, in the majority Kurdish region, will leave due to an “increased threat stream,” according to an embassy statement Wednesday that didn’t give more details. The move comes after the Pentagon accelerated a carrier battle group’s transit to the region and deployed a Patriot anti-missile battery to bolster forces.

Yet critics of the Trump administration warned the U.S. isn’t sharing enough clear evidence of Iranian threats and say that without better intelligence, the latest buildup is reminiscent of the lead-in to the Iraq war in late 2002, which was based on faulty intelligence. Iranian officials have said that National Security Advisor John Bolton and other administration hawks are hyping the threat of war.

Trump on Tuesday rejected a report that the Pentagon is updating scenarios for war with Iran, but then warned he’d send “a hell of a lot more” than 120,000 troops to the Middle East in the event of hostilities. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are demanding briefings on the latest intelligence on Iran, with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo expected to meet with House members next week, according to an official.

Amid the tensions, oil prices rebounded on Wednesday as a government report showed shrinking supplies of U.S. gasoline, suggesting more demand ahead for crude suppliers. “I made clear once again that we are worried in view of the developments and the tensions in the region,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after the meetings. “We don’t want a military escalation.” German officials on Wednesday said the country wasn’t aware of a “concrete threat” or change to the security situation in Iraq.

Trump says Iran’s missile program and support for militant groups is destabilizing the Mideast region and he has made countering the Islamic Republic a primary focus of his foreign policy, encouraged by Iranian foes led by Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Israel.

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