Demonstrators gather near the steps of the Trump Hotel International during a protest on January 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. Protestors in Washington and around the country gathered to protest President Donald Trump's executive order barring the citizens
BAGHDAD: Iraq has asked the United States to reconsider the travel ban on its citizens, the foreign ministry said on Monday, taking a more diplomatic line than the Iraqi parliament which had demanded the government “retaliate”.
“It is necessary that the new American administration reconsider this wrong decision,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Noting their cooperation in fighting the Islamic State group, the statement added: “We affirm Iraq’s desire to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.”
By executive order on Friday, President Donald Trump banned U.S. entry for people from seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - and temporarily halted the admission of refugees.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
