In an interview with Al-Mustaqilla TV, Sarmad Abdulkarim, director of the Iraqi News Agency called the recent US designation and sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and Qods Force as a prelude to the Iranian regime’s eviction from Iraq.

Q: Mr. Sarmad, is this the US plan to evict the Iranian regime from Iraq?
Sarmad Abdulkarim: Certainly, there are efforts by the US to limit Iran and this plan is very important. In my view this is the beginning of overthrow of the mullahs’ regime in Tehran Undoubtedly the US wants to evict the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq through these sanctions. I think this is a practical plan which is being carried out and this is a very important plan. Certainly there are clear assessments on this issue particularly after the revelation by important organs like the PMOI that announced there were 32000 affiliates of the Qods Force in Iraq including the Iranian ambassador in Iraq.

The director of the Iraqi News Agency added: I believe that the Qods Force has infiltrated extensively in security and military systems in full cooperation with Badr militias and other militias. This is quite clear that there is a flagrant cooperation between Qods Force and militias’ networks. Yesterday Hadi al-Ameri stressed that Iraq didn’t accept US designation of IRGC in the terrorist list and they were not bound to it. He called it an American measure and Iraq was not bound to accept it completely since these sanctions would affect these organs and other organizations in Iraq and hence would lead to consequences for them.