BAHGDAD: Iraq has approached the Iranian and US governments in a bid to prevent being caught up in a regional escalation, officials said Saturday (Jun 14), as Washington's ally Israel and Iran traded blows . The government in Baghdad is a close ally of Tehran, but also a strategic partner of Iran's arch-foe the United States, which has some 2,500 troops in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist coalition. The government in a statement late Saturday said that it "reiterates its firm and unequivocal