ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States provides Iraq with superior technology and should be considered the country's 'partner of choice,' the State Department said on Thursday. The statement follows a visit by a senior Russian official to Iraq, where Moscow expressed its readiness to supply advanced weapons.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu visited Iraq on Tuesday, meeting with Iraq's Defence Minister Thabet al-Abbassi. Shoigu said his country is ready to provide Iraq with advanced military technology.
Rudaw asked the US State Department how Russian military support for Iraq might affect US-Iraq security ties. The Department declined to comment on hypotheticals.
"The United States is committed to our partners across Iraq who are working to build a stable, federal, and sovereign state. The U.S. military brings superior technology and experience to our Iraqi partners. The U.S. should be the partner of choice," it said instead.
As part of an agreement with the Iraqi government, US troops are set to withdraw from Iraq's federal areas by the end of this month. The withdrawal towards the Kurdistan Region has reportedly already begun.
During his rare visit to Iraq, Shoigu said Moscow is "ready to cooperate in all areas [with Iraq], including the provision of advanced weapons and military equipment," Russian state-owned TASS cited him as saying.
"We are ready to provide the Iraqi government with the most advanced Russian-made weapons and military equipment, which have demonstrated their tactical and technical capabilities in actual combat situations," he added.
He claimed that, unlike other major player in the region, Russia "offers its foreign partners a wider range of defense solutions in the field of air defense and missile technologies, including for aviation and naval equipment."
Iraqi defence ministry said in a short statement that Shoigu and Abbassi. discussed "ways to enhance military cooperation between Iraq and Russia in various fields," adding that the Russian security official affirmed his country's "commitment and efforts to strengthen military cooperation with Iraq in support of the heroic Iraqi army."
Iraq enjoys strong ties with the US and Russia.
A US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) helped the Iraqi army in the territorial defeat of the extremist group in 2017 after around three years of a devastating war.
Bizhar Zubair and Malik Mohammed contributed to this article.