US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss with President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi US security concerns amid rising Iranian activity. The visit came two days after US national security adviser John Bolton said the United States was deploying the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and a bomber task force to the region because of a “credible threat by Iranian regime forces.” The concern about a threat from Iranian forces comes after Washington has ramped up sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program in recent months and designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. “We talked to them about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it’s able to adequately protect Americans in their country,” Pompeo told reporters after meeting the premier. "They both provided assurances that they understood that was their responsibility," he said. Pompeo said the purpose of the meeting also was to let Iraqi officials know more about “the increased threat stream that we had seen” so they could effectively protect US forces. Pompeo added he expressed US support for Iraqi sovereignty, noting, “We don’t want anyone interfering in their country, certainly not by attacking another nation inside of Iraq.” Pompeo abruptly canceled talks in Germany and made a lengthy detour from a European tour to spend four hours in Iraq. Asked before the meetings if there was a threat to the Baghdad government from Iran that raised US concerns about Iraqi sovereignty, Pompeo replied: “No, no, generally this has been our position since the national security strategy came out in the beginning of the Trump administration.” Asked about the decision to move the aircraft carrier and bomber task force to the region, Pompeo said Washington wanted to defend its interests from the Iranian threat and ensure it had the forces necessary to accomplish that goal. “The message that we’ve sent to the Iranians, I hope, puts us in a position where we can deter and the Iranians will think twice about attacking American interests,” Pompeo said, noting that the US intelligence was “very specific” about “attacks that were imminent.” He said the United States has urged Iraq to move quickly to bring Iranian-influenced independent militias under central government control, noting that they make Iraq “a less stable nation.” Pompeo also said spoke to Iraqi officials about their energy and infrastructure needs, especially in the electricity, oil and natural gas sectors. He said they discussed ways to quickly move forward with projects that could help improve Iraqi lives. In a press conference a few hours before Pompeos arrival, Abdul Mahdi said Iraq would not accept any attack on foreign troops on its land. "Iraq really is taking the responsibility to avoid any attack on any of our friends here, coalition forces or any of our friends here," he told reporters. "This is an obligation that Iraq would honor, (and) not accept any attack on anyone -- whether Iraqi, foreigner, whether its an embassy or a company or a military mission," he said. The Trump administration has made several recent moves to squeeze Iran. Last month, President Donald Trump announced the US would no longer exempt any countries from US sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil. Trump withdrew from the Obama administrations landmark nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and, in the months that followed, reinstated punishing sanctions, including those targeting Irans oil, shipping and banking sectors. Trump has particularly criticized the Iran nuclear deal for failing to address Tehrans ballistic missile program and its malign influence across the Middle East.