The U.S. order to expel an Iraqi diplomat to the United Nations for alleged espionage was a "ridiculous" provocation, a senior Iraqi official said. "It's a provocative and ridiculous move," Saad Qassem Hammudi, a high-ranking member of the ruling Baath party, told AFP.
The expulsion, announced Friday by the US State Department, was witness to the "hysteria that prevails in Washington and which marks its Iraqi policy," Hammudi said.
The United States adopted the decision "after having failed in its attempts to get Iraqi diplomats to betray their country," Hammudi said, accusing Washington of seeking to "provoke problems and formulate baseless accusations against Iraq." (Albawaba.com)
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