Shafaq News / The United States Embassy in Baghdad congratulated On Thursday the formation of the new Iraqi government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, while promising to support it on three things.

"The United States Mission in Iraq congratulates the Iraqi people on giving confidence to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kahdimi and his government in the session of the Iraqi parliament, which was held on May 6," the embassy statement said.

"We extend our support to Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi and the Iraqi people to combat the pandemic (Covid-19), achieve a comprehensive victory over ISIS, provide humanitarian assistance, and stabilize the displaced and liberated areas”.

"The new Iraqi government must now turn to the difficult work of implementing urgent reforms and meeting the needs of the Iraqi people," the US embassy spokesman said.

The statement indicated that "the next strategic dialogue with the Iraqi government aims to reaffirm the value of the US-Iraqi partnership for both countries."

"We have taken good notice of Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi's promise to hold early elections and his will to strengthen the democratic system in Iraq," stressing, "We look forward to working with this new government to give the Iraqi people the sovereignty, dignity, prosperity and security that they deserve”, the statement added.

The Iraqi parliament had voted after midnight yesterday, on the government program for the new Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and 15 ministers had been voted on, so that Kadhimi government would have acquired an official capacity.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he pledged to help the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

 “Great to speak today with new Iraqi PrimeMinister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Now comes the urgent, hard work of implementing the reforms demanded by the Iraqi people. I pledged to help him deliver on his bold agenda for the sake of the Iraqi people. “Pompeo tweeted after a phone call with Al-Kadhimi,

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has previously welcomed the formation of a new government in Iraq headed by Mustafa al-Kahdiimi, the former head of the intelligence service, and extended the deadline granted to Baghdad from the sanctions imposed on Tehran, which allows it to continue importing gas and electricity from Iran.

The US State Department said in a statement that Pompeo congratulated Al-Kadhimi during a phone call on obtaining the confidence of Parliament and told him that, for a period of 120 days, the United States will not impose sanctions on Iraq for importing gas and electricity from the Islamic Republic.

Washington imposed severe sanctions on the Iranian energy sector in 2018, and threatened to punish any country that deals with Tehran in this field, but it granted Baghdad a series of consecutive temporary exemptions, the last of which was last only 30 days.

Al-Kadhimi’s government won the confidence of Parliament overnight, as the former head of the intelligence service succeeded in the task before him, after two assigned prime ministers, Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi and Adnan al-Zurfi failed to form a government to succeed the government of Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who resigned last year under the pressure of mass popular demonstrations against corruption.

The American exemption allowed Iraq to continue importing about 1,400 megawatts of electricity and 28 million cubic meters (988 million cubic feet) of gas from Iran.