{"id":610542,"date":"2025-12-04T00:07:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/610542\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T00:07:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:07:21","slug":"us-opens-massive-796m-consulate-in-irbil-to-strengthen-kurdish-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/610542\/","title":{"rendered":"US opens massive $796M consulate in Irbil to strengthen Kurdish ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

IRBIL, Iraq — The United States inaugurated a massive new consulate compound Wednesday in Irbil, the capital of northern Iraq\u2019s<\/a> semiautonomous Kurdish region.<\/p>\n

The move highlighted Washington\u2019s diplomatic and strategic engagement in the Kurdish region, particularly as the U.S. moves troops that had been stationed elsewhere in Iraq as part of a mission against the Islamic State group, under an agreement<\/a> with the central government in Baghdad.<\/p>\n

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Michael Rigas joined Kurdish leaders for the inauguration of the sprawling complex \u2014 planned as the largest U.S. consulate in the world \u2014 built on a 206,000-square-meter (50-acre) site along the Irbil\u2013Shaqlawa highway at a cost of $796 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s investment in this new consulate provides a secure platform to advance the interests of the United States,\u201d Rigas said. \u201cIt demonstrates the value that a sovereign, secure and prosperous Iraq, in mutually beneficial partnership with the United States can deliver for its own people and for America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening comes amid ongoing challenges in Iraq, including regional tensions and attacks on energy infrastructure. A drone strike<\/a> last week on the Kormor natural gas field caused widespread power outages.<\/p>\n

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Rigas appeared to cast blame on Iraq\u2019s politically powerful Iran-backed militias.<\/p>\n

He urged both Baghdad and Irbil to \u201cdisempower and dismantle Iran-aligned militias that continue to engage in violent and destabilizing activities and only serve to harm Iraqi sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurdish regional President Nechirvan Barzani referred to the consulate as a \u201cclear political message regarding the importance of Irbil and the Kurdistan region.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the facility underscores the deep partnership between the U.S. and the Kurdish authorities and will serve as a hub for diplomatic, economic and security cooperation.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP’s Middle East coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/middle-east<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRBIL, Iraq — The United States inaugurated a massive new consulate compound Wednesday in Irbil, the capital of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[190738,3907,4179,190737,41,8617,285,49,978,659,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-610542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-190738","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-inaugurations","12":"tag-islam","13":"tag-military-and-defense","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa","18":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115658387814109868","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}