(MENAFN) The United States is not about to plunder Iraq's oil, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said as he arrived in Baghdad on Monday and sought to soothe partners rattled by remarks from President Donald Trump.
Trump has repeatedly said both while campaigning and since his election that America, whose troops occupied Iraq for eight years, should have grabbed Iraqi oil to help fund its war effort and to deprive the Islamic State group of a vital revenue source.
But Mattis, a retired Marine general who commanded troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, appeared to pour cold water on the comments.
"All of us in America have generally paid for gas and oil all along, and I am sure that we will continue to do so in the future," Mattis said.
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