Khamenei Asks Abdul Hadi To Expel US Troops From Iraq 'Immediately'

 Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi PM meeting with Iran's supreme leather Ali Khamenei. April 6, 2019 (Khamenei’s official website)
Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi PM meeting with Iran's supreme leather Ali Khamenei. April 6, 2019 (Khamenei’s official website)
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Khamenei Asks Abdul Hadi To Expel US Troops From Iraq 'Immediately'

 Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi PM meeting with Iran's supreme leather Ali Khamenei. April 6, 2019 (Khamenei’s official website)
Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi PM meeting with Iran's supreme leather Ali Khamenei. April 6, 2019 (Khamenei’s official website)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called Saturday on Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Hadi to work on expelling US forces from Iraq immediately.

Khamenei was speaking as sources reported that the US is about to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its external branch, the Quds Force, on its black list of foreign terrorist organizations.

“The Iraqi government should do something [to ensure] that American military troops will leave Iraq as soon as possible,” Khamenei’s official website quoted him as saying. He added that the US constitutes a threat on the current democratic process in Iraq.

"You need to do something that Americans would withdraw their military forces from Iraq as soon as possible. Because sending them out have always been a problem wherever they stayed for a long time," Khamenei told Abdul Mahdi.

Khamenei later said that the current government, parliament and political activists in Iraq are undesirable for America, and the Americans are planning to push them out of Iraq's political scene.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported this week that the United States would designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

Reuters said it spoke with three US officials that confirmed that Trump’s administration would announce the decision as soon as Monday and that concerned defense officials were bracing for the impact.

Two weeks ago, a spokesperson from the Pentagon denied reports published by the New York Times about Washington’s fears on the safety of US troops in Iraq.

The expected US announcement would come ahead of the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and to re-impose sanctions that had crippled Iran’s economy.



Trump Orders Reopening of Infamous US Prison Alcatraz

FILE - Fog lingers behind Alcatraz Island, July 1, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
FILE - Fog lingers behind Alcatraz Island, July 1, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
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Trump Orders Reopening of Infamous US Prison Alcatraz

FILE - Fog lingers behind Alcatraz Island, July 1, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
FILE - Fog lingers behind Alcatraz Island, July 1, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

US President Donald Trump said he had directed officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz prison, the notorious federal jail based on a small island in California that shuttered six decades ago.

The jail will house “America's most ruthless and violent Offenders,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the institution will be “substantially enlarged.”

Alcatraz closed in 1963 due to high operating costs after being open for just 29 years, according to the US Bureau of Prisons, and now serves as a tourist attraction.

Located two kilometers off the coast of San Francisco and with a capacity of just 336 prisoners, it held several well-known criminals, including Prohibition-era mob boss Al Capone, and saw many fantastical escape attempts by inmates.

Trump has made cracking down on crimes a key element of his second term in the White House.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That's the way it's supposed to be,” Trump wrote.

“No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets,” he added.

The US president told reporters as he returned to the White House from Florida, that reopening the prison was “Just an idea I've had” and decided to act on.

“It's a symbol of law and order,” he said.