Joe Biden could help Iraq by defusing US-Iran tensions, Iraqi adviser says

Dr Fanar Haddad says Iraq suffered from disputes between US and Iran that escalated under Donald Trump

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, welcomes then US Vice President Joe Biden at Zabeel Palace in March 2016. AP Photo

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, meets US Vice President Joe Biden in Dubai in 2016. Reuters

US Vice President Joe Biden meets with Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani in Arbil on September 17, 2009. Biden held talks in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil to push Iraqi leaders for progress on stalled legislation ahead of parliamentary elections in January. AFP

Delaware Senator Joe Biden speaking with an unidentified soldier inside a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle during a visit to Ramadi, Iraq, 06 September, 2007. AFP

US Vice President Joseph Biden and his wife Dr Jill Biden tour the Nabatean city of Petra in southern Jordan on March 12, 2010. AFP

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal welcomes US Vice President Joe Biden at the Riyadh airbase on October 27, 2011, upon his arrival in the Saudi capital with a US official delegation to offer condolences to the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz following the death of his brother, Crown Prince Sultan. AFP

Israel's President Shimon Peres shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden before their meeting at the president's residence in Jerusalem March 9, 2010. Reuters

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden talks with soldiers at Camp Victory on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq July 4, 2009. Reuters

U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden talks with soldiers as he travels in a military vehicle to Iraq from Kuwait in this September 6, 2007. Reuters

U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., Chairman of the U.S Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, waves as he talks to Afghan children during a visit to the Ariana primary school in Kabul, Jan. 12, 2002. AP Photo

US Vice President Joseph Biden shakes hand with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a joined press conference following a meeting in Baghdad on July 3, 2009. Vice President Joe Biden threatened today that the United States would politically disengage from Iraq if sectarian or ethnic violence resumes, a senior US official told reporters. AFP

US Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks to Jill, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden as Sen. Lindsay Graham and U.S. Sen. John McCain looks on, during a surprise visit to Baghdad, on July 3, 2010. AFP

Turkish President Abdullah Gul meets with US congressmen Joseph Biden, John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, and US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson in Ankara, on February 22, 2008. AFP

US senator Joseph Biden is greeted by Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi while visiting Baghdad 19 June 2004. Eighteen Iraqis were killed and eight wounded in the Sunni rebel stronghold of Fallujah, hospital officials said, in an attack which local residents blamed on a US air raid. AFP

US Senator Joseph Biden hosts King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Rania at a Senate Foreign Relations luncheon 08 May 2002, during their visit to the US Capitol in Washington, DC. AFP

US vice president-elect Joe Biden is seen during a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad on January 12, 2009. AFP

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari smiles at Joe Biden during a press conference after a meeting with and Curt Weldon, the head of a US congressional delegation of about a half-dozen members that also includes Rep. Joe Wilson, Rep. Jeff Miller, Rep. Harold Ford, Rep. Mark Green, David Reichert, and Senator Joe Biden, in Baghdad 30 May 2005. AFP

US Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska listen on as Joe Biden of Delaware speaks to the press at a hotel in Baghdad 23 June 2003. The congressional delegation is touring the capital and attending official meetings. AFP

Delaware Senator Joe Biden meeting with Iraqi tribal leaders in the Anbar Province in Iraq, 06 September, 2007. AFP

The wife of US vice president, Jill Biden meets Syrian refugee children on March 10, 2016 at the Zaatari refugee camp, located close to the northern Jordanian city of Mafraq near the border with Syria. AFP

US Vice President Joe Biden arrives for a meeting with Morocco's King Mohammed VI at the royal palace in Fez on November 19, 2014. AFP

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit receives US Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden upon their arrival at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport on June 6, 2010, for a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak on the first leg of an African tour. AFP

US Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden are welcomed by Reem Al Hashimi, Minister of State and Managing Director for the Dubai World Expo 2020 Bid Committee. EPA

US vice president Joe Biden speaks during a conference with young Emirati entrepreneurs in Dubai. AP Photo

Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri attends a meeting with Sen. Joe Biden, (D-DE), and other members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee 17 April 2002 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. AFP

US Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora during a meeting at the governmental palace in Beirut on May 22, 2009. AFP

US Vice President Joe Biden and Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr walk past a US-made tank during a ceremony at the Rafiq Hariri international airport in Beirut on May 22, 2009. AFP

The election of Joe Biden could be a boost for Iraq if the incoming US President backs down from the maximum pressure policy on Iran pursued by Donald Trump's administration, a senior adviser to Iraq's Prime Minister said.

Dr Fanar Haddad said the current government of Mustafa Al Kadhimi, who has been Prime Minister since May 2020, had suffered from the deterioration of US-Iran relations.

"It was painfully obvious in the last year or two the extent to which Iran-US policy impacts on Iraq and the extent to which this is beyond Iraq's control," Dr Haddad told a Chatham House conference called Iraq: Navigating reform, collapse and the status quo.

Mr Trump has been deeply critical of the Iranian regime and in 2018 pulled the US out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal that sought to clamp down on Iran’s nuclear prowess. He described the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as terrible and renewed crippling sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by breaching the deal.

The US President also approved an air strike that killed influential Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani and Abu Mahdi Muhandis, a senior Iraqi commander in the Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces, earlier this year in Baghdad.

Mr Biden was US Vice-President in 2015 when the JCPOA was agreed.

“So there are elements in the political set-up, there are elements in Iraq’s foreign policy, there are elements in Iraq’s security landscape that are within Iraq’s control,” said Dr Haddad.

“There is a separate layer that is beyond Iraq’s control and is directly related to and reflective of the state of relations between Iran and the United States. The outgoing US administration has been, shall we say, unhelpful in that regard by pursuing a policy of maximum pressure with no discernible end goal.

“This is something that has affected Iraq very negatively and we are hoping that in the incoming administration that there will be a return to the negotiation table. The calmer that relations are or tensions are between Iran and the United States, the better the situation is for Iraq,” he added.