Free Republic

BAGHDAD — American oil workers were fleeing Iraq on Friday, as fears grew of war between the United States and Iran. At sermons in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, worshippers chanted, “Death to America!” And in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, where anti-government protesters have gathered for months, a banner went up with a pointed message to both Iran and the U.S.: “Keep your conflicts away from Iraq.” A Shocked Iraq Reconsiders Its Relationship With the U.S. Falih Hassan, Tim Arango and Alissa J. Rubin The New York TimesJanuary 4, 2020, 8:22 PM GMT+5 Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in...

**SNIP** But though the United States and Iran each face domestic pressures against closer relations, some analysts see a more collaborative relationship as an inevitable if uneasy consequence of the negotiations leading up to the nuclear deal — despite the insistence of leaders on either side that the American-brokered agreement would be limited to Iran’s nuclear program. “Both the Iranian and American governments are going to approach expanded dialogue very gingerly,” said James Dobbins, a senior follow at the RAND Corporation. “But there will still be a gradual increase in at least communication between the two governments on areas beyond...