The US administration decided to withdraw half of its diplomats from the US embassy in Baghdad as tensions rise with Iran ahead of the first anniversary of the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani.

Axar.az reports the staff downsizing, confirmed by a US official and a State Department official, is in principle supposed to be short-term. However given the abrupt downward trajectory of US-Iranian relations through the ultimate months of President Donald Trump’s tenure, it isn’t clear when a fuller endowment will resume.

The reduction of the US diplomats can be an indication of the various checks that await President-elect Joe Biden within the Center East, an area his international coverage workforce downplays by seeing what they see as the largest and most pressing problem posed by the rise of China.