The Iraqi government on Sunday filed a formal complaint against statements made by British Ambassador Stephen Hickey, who condemned threats against him from “militias” and, in general, expressed his regret over the general state of the security situation in the country. In response, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the embassy’s charge d’affaires, Ruth Coverdale, on Sunday to express its concern over the ambassador’s statements on a Kurdish television program. “The ministry considers these statements to be interference in the country’s internal affairs and to remove the ambassador from his diplomatic duties,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency. The “militias” the ambassador referred to could be Iranian-funded armed groups present in the country, closely linked to Iraq’s official security apparatus, and which have in recent months been involved in attacks against US forces still present in the country in support of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel in Gaza. For their part, Iraqi government security officials, who refused to reveal their identities, explained to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that the government had not received any official notification from the British embassy about these threats, and that diplomatic missions in Iraq had been fully protected and that the security situation remained stable.
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