President Barham Salih reaffirmed that "Iraqis do not want to see this country yet again turn into a zone of proxy conflict... obviously we're very concerned. These tensions [between Iran and the U.S.] are extremely disconcerting in Iraq and in the neighbourhood". Salih also acknowledged that there were some "rogue elements" operating in the country, while underscoring that "we are telling everybody, cool it. This is not the place to have your battles on". The president also described the U.S.' 15 May decision to pull out non-essential personnel from its diplomatic posts in the country as "unwarranted, but we don't want to second-guess the U.S. government".