US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday as part of his Middle East tour.

Blinken landed in Baghdad on Sunday night for his first visit to the country as a top US diplomat and held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.

The US secretary of state’s visit to Iraq, announced by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, was not previously disclosed for security reasons. It comes at a time when — since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas — rocket and drone attacks have targeted Iraqi bases where US troops and forces of the international coalition against the jihadists have been deployed.

In particular, the US Secretary of State landed at Baghdad International Airport, donned a ballistic vest and traveled in a Black Hawk helicopter to the Green Zone, a remnant of the US occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion. At the US ambassador’s residence he was briefed on threats to US facilities before heading to the prime minister’s office.

The US is “working hard” to stop the spread of conflict and bring the hostages home, Anthony Blinken told a news conference from Baghdad.

The US Secretary of State said he had a productive meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani and also made it “very clear” that attacks from Iran-aligned militias are “unacceptable”.

“We had a good frank conversation and in general we are working hard to ensure that the conflict in Gaza does not escalate elsewhere,” Blinken added.

The US official said Israel had raised important questions about how the humanitarian pauses would work and the US “had to answer those questions”.

“It’s important that a pause promotes many things – one of them is hostages. We are intensely focused on bringing them home,” he added.

Blinken went on to say that “everyone would welcome a humanitarian pause” and noted that Mr. Sudani is working with his security forces to stop attacks by militia groups.

“No country wants to have militia groups involved in violent activity. It is clearly against Iraq’s interests,” he added.