US reportedly threatens Iraq if it doesn’t get kidnapped Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov freed

Citing two Iraqi officials in Baghdad, the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet says that Washington asked Iraq’s prime minister to bring about the release of kidnapped Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov.

The Trump administration threatened “political and economic consequences” if Iraq did not resolve the issue, says the Qatari newspaper.

Iraq’s national security adviser said last week that authorities were actively searching for Tsurkov, kidnapped nearly two years ago in Baghdad.

Israeli authorities have blamed the Iran-backed Iraqi terror group Kataeb Hezbollah, though no group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance.

The two Iraqi officials tell Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the government is enlisting the help of Shiite political leaders to secure Tsurkov’s release.

One of the officials tells the outlet that US President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler has sent direct messages to Iraqi premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and “threatened a package of US punitive measures against Iraq, political and economic, if Tsurkov’s detention continued, and considered that the Iraqi government is responsible for returning her as soon as possible.”

“Washington is now the negotiator for Tsurkov’s release, not Israel,” says the other official, who sits on Iraq’s National Security Council. Iraq, the official says, sees the situation as “very embarrassing, due to the lack of response from any armed group to the crisis.”

Iraq “has been making real and important efforts in this case for months,” insists the official, “but the kidnappers are not responding in any way, and their goal is not the financial ransom, which makes the case difficult.”

The officials talk to the Qatari paper a day after US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told Sudani that the White House had let a waiver allowing Iraq to pay Iran for electricity lapse in order to maintain pressure on Tehran.