Iraq turmoil: Kerry meets with Iraqi leaders

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Iraq turmoil: Kerry meets with Iraqi leaders

Yesterday Secretary of State John Kerry visited Baghdad. Kerry is trying to gather support for an inclusive government as Iraq faces an advancing militant threat. NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Erbil.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry conlcueded his trip to Iraq by holding meetings in the Kurdish cirty of Erbil with some of the region’s most senior leadership, including the Kurdistan’s regional government’s president Massoud Barzani.

The two discussed a host of issues; however, one of the most pressing issues that the Secretary tried to impress on the Kurdish leadership was to participate in a new government that is currently being formed, and that is being discussed by the current Prime Minister Noour al-Maliki.

However, one of the things the Kurdish leadership has repeated is that it wants to see Prime Minister Maliki go. During the course of the last several days, the same calls have been echoed by senior members of his political party, as well as the country’s top leadership.

On the ground, the situation remains rather tense. The Iraqi army says it still holds the Beiji oil refinery, the largest in the country, despite the fact that ISIL militants are claiming to have overrun it and are now in control of it.

There are some mixed reports about who is actually firmly in control of the refinery itself. Meanwhile along the border, the Iraqi army has stepped up some of its air strikes on suspected hideouts belonging to ISIL militants.

Iraq turmoil: Kerry meets with Iraqi leaders

Yesterday Secretary of State John Kerry visited Baghdad. Kerry is trying to gather support for an inclusive government as Iraq faces an advancing militant threat. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Erbil.

It’s political and civil warfare in Iraq. While radical Sunnis capture key sites in the north and west, there’s more splintering among Iraqi communities. The country faces a July first deadline to form a new government.

The U.S. is hoping it will include the autonomous and secure Kurdish region so as to form a united front against the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. CCTV’s Tony Cheng reports.

Iraq turmoil: Kerry asks Kurds to support Iraq unity

It's political and civil warfare in Iraq. While radical Sunnis capture key sites in the north and west, there's more splintering among Iraqi communities. The country faces a July first deadline to form a new government. The U.S. is hoping it will include the autonomous and secure Kurdish region so as to form a united front against the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. CCTV's Tony Cheng reports.

It’s clear things remain fluid in Iraq. Could there be a political or diplomatic solution to the turmoil? James Phillips joined us with some more insight. Phillips is a senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation.

James Phillips talks diplomatic solutions in Iraq

It's clear things remain fluid in Iraq. Could there be a political or diplomatic solution to the turmoil? James Phillips joined us with some more insight. Phillips is a senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation.