Jordanian Ministers Resign, Iraqi Ministers Expected to be Sacked

Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz asked cabinet ministers to submit their resignations in preparation for a reshuffle expected in the coming days. Razzaz stressed that the rearrangement was aimed at addressing challenges and to “achieve the government’s priorities and plans,” the state-run Petra news agency reported. In January, King Abdullah II approved a limited cabinet reshuffle. Meanwhile, six Iraqi government ministers are expected to lose their jobs due to cabinet restructuring in Baghdad, the Saudi Arabia-based Arab News reported. The ministries reportedly involved will be oil, electricity, water resources, industry, health and communications. The shake-up in Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi’s government stems from a battle between the United States and Iran for influence in Iraq, according to an anonymous negotiator cited in the report. “Iraq is the chessboard that Iran and America are wrestling on. Upcoming interrogations of ministers and dismissals are part of this wrestling,” the source told Arab News. Washington and its allies in Iraq believe the Mideastern country’s Shi’ite leadership has grown closer to Tehran, something requiring restored balance, the negotiator said. “Iraqi and European mediators are trying to reach understandings and calm the situation between Iran and America because we believe Iraq is in the midst of the storm and we Iraqis will pay the biggest price as a result.”