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Iraqi Leader Says ISIS Militants Plotted Against Subways New Iraqi Premier Backs U.S. Air Campaign, Within Limits
(about 5 hours later)
Iraq’s prime minister said on Thursday that his government had gathered intelligence from captured militants indicating that the Islamic State was planning to attack targets in Europe and the United States, including subways. Iraq’s new prime minister said Thursday that he fully supported the American-led airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State, but he also made clear that he opposed any broadening of the air campaign to target forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. 
American intelligence officials expressed some skepticism about the assertion, pointing out that it was inconsistent with other information they had gathered about the Islamic State. But they were looking into it nonetheless. “As a neighbor, I don’t want to be party to the disintegration of Syria or to have diminished sovereignty of Syria,” said Haider al-Abadi, who is making his first visit to the United States since becoming the new leader of Iraq
The prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said that the plotting was being carried out by foreign fighters who had joined the Islamic State’s offensive in Iraq. In an hourlong interview with a small group of reporters, Mr. Abadi sought to walk a fine line been the security partnership he has forged with the Obama administration to confront the militants who have occupied much of Syria and Iraq, and his desire to maintain good relations with both the Assad government and Iran.
He said that he had been informed of the information on Thursday morning and that Iraq was sharing it with the United States. Mr. Abadi, who met with President Obama on Wednesday, said that he agreed with Western fears that the Islamic State was a potential menace to Europe and the United States. 
“From the details I have received, yes, it looks credible,” Mr. Abadi told a group of reporters in New York, where the prime minister and his aides were attending the United Nations General Assembly meeting. As if to underscore that point, Mr. Abadi said that  his government had gathered intelligence from captured militants indicating that the Islamic State was planning to attack subways in Paris and the United States.
“Today, while I am here, I am receiving accurate reports from Baghdad,” said Mr. Abadi, adding that they came following the “arrest of a few elements.”  But senior Obama administration officials said that they could not confirm the Iraqi intelligence and some American officials viewed it skeptically. 
He added, “There are networks planning from Inside Iraq to have attacks. They plan to have attacks on the metros of Paris and the U.S.” Mr. Abadi has expressed appreciation for American help in combating the Islamic State, but in the interview the Iraqi leader said that he also welcomed the Iranian advisers whom he acknowledged were also in Iraq. 
Caitlin Hayden, the spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council, said in a statement that it was aware of Mr. Abadi’s reported comments. Mr. Abadi asserted that Iraq lacked the legal authority to stop Iranian flights to Damascus that American officials say fly over Iraqi airspace carrying arms for the Assad government.
“We have not confirmed such a plot, and would have to review any information from our Iraqi partners before making further determinations,” she said. “We take any threat seriously and always work to corroborate information we receive from our partners.”  The Obama administration has unsuccessfully pressed the Iraqi government to put a halt to the Iranian weapons shipments by insisting on inspecting suspicious flights. 
Referring to President Obama’s warnings on Wednesday at a special session about foreign fighters of the United Nations Security Council, Ms. Hayden said: “We’re obviously very focused on the issue of foreign fighters.” Mr. Abadi was also explicit about the limits of his support for the new American-led air campaign. Saudi Arabia, which has agreed to host the training of the moderate Syrian opposition, seems to be calculating that the military campaign against the Islamic State will evolve into a broader military and political effort to force Mr. Assad from power.  
F.B.I. officials also reacted to Mr. Abadi’s remarks. George Venizelos, the F.B.I.’s assistant director-in-charge, said in a statement that its agents “are in contact with our law enforcement and intelligence community partners as we assess the validity of this threat.” And members of the Syrian opposition have expressed hope that they might forge ties with the new Iraqi government. 
Apparently referring to the New York subway system, the country’s largest, Mr. Venizelos said: “The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with the New York City Police Department, remain committed to protecting this city.” But Mr. Abadi stressed that he had backed the American and Arab airstrikes in Syria after being told that the targets list would not include the Syrian military or government. 
A senior administration official said that nobody in the administration had been aware of such a plot and it was not raised when American and Iraqi officials met at the United Nations earlier this week. But Mr. Abadi said he had only learned of the intelligence Thursday morning. “We had a lengthy discussion with our American friends and what they emphasized is their aim in Syria is not to destabilize Syria” but “rather to diminish the capability of Daish,” said Mr. Abadi, using an Arabic term for the Islamic State.
Mr. Abadi also said that he had conveyed a message to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria before the American-led air attacks there that the scope of the bombing would be limited to Islamic State targets and would not extend to targets connected to Mr. Assad’s government. Mr. Abadi said that he had sent a senior adviser to Damascus to reassure the Assad government that it would not be a target. And he said that the Obama administration had also asked him to pass a similar message to the Syrians.
“As a neighbor, I don’t want to be party to the disintegration of Syria or to have diminished sovereignty of Syria,” Mr. Abadi said. “So I find it fit to send my adviser to inform the Syria regime this is our vision, this is our aim, they should not misunderstand it.”  “We have been given that message by the Americans,” Mr. Abadi said, “although we just relay a message without any comment.”
Mr. Abadi said that the Obama administration had informed the Iraqi government that the goal of the airstrikes was not to destabilize the Assad government, and that Iraq had passed this message to the Syrian government on behalf of the Obama administration. A senior administration official declined to comment on Mr. Abadi’s disclosure that Iraq had passed an American message to Mr. Assad.
“We have been given that message by the Americans,” Mr. Abadi said, “although we just relay a message without any comment.” But he said the purpose of the United States’s own message to the Assad government was to dissuade it from taking military action to interfere with the bombing campaign in Syria against the Islamic State that began this week.
The Obama administration has said it notified Mr. Assad’s government of its intention to bomb Islamic militant targets in northern Syria, but has said nothing about having offered other assurances to Mr. Assad. Mr. Abadi also said that the Iraqi government would insist on approving any strike in Iraq by the United States against the Islamic State. “I have raised the issue of the sovereignty of Iraq,”  said Mr. Abadi. “We don’t want to happen in Iraq what happened in Yemen and Pakistan,” he added, alluding to American drone attacks there. 
A senior administration official would not comment directly on Mr. Abadi’s comments that Iraq had passed an American message to Mr. Assad. But he said the purpose of the United States’ own message to the Assad government was to dissuade it from taking military action to interfere with the bombing. Mr. Abadi also said that he agreed with Mr. Obama that American ground combat forces should not be sent to Iraq and added that Iraq did not want other Western nations or Arab states to send combat troops either. 
Regarding the development of Iraq’s own forces, Mr. Abadi said that he was prepared to decentralize power from Baghdad and was backing a plan that would allow the formation of national guard units in which Sunni regions would primarily be responsible for their own defense. 
Despite his talk of decentralization, Mr. Abadi signaled that there would be tough bargaining ahead with the Kurds, who have been pressing their demands for expanded autonomy, the right to export oil and on federal revenue sharing. 
“I am prepared to take hard decisions,” he said. “Kurdistan,” he added, “must take hard decisions as well. Are they part of Iraq or not? If they are part of Iraq there must be given and take. Part of Iraq is not one way.”
After Mr. Abadi made his assertions about a possible terrorist subway plot, officials in New York said they had seen no credible evidence of an attack on the transit system, but would bolster underground security presence as a precaution.
“There is no immediate credible threat to our subway system,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference in Union Square in Manhattan, after he and Police Commissioner William Bratton rode an express train to showcase the system’s safety.