Iraqi prime minister requests end to travel curbs in call with Trump

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi asked U.S. President Donald Trump to lift travel restrictions imposed on his country, in the first phone call between the two leaders, an Iraqi government statement said on Friday.

"Mr. Trump stressed the importance of coordination to find a solution to this issue as soon as possible and that he will direct the U.S. State Department in this regard," the Iraqi statement said, adding that it was the U.S. president who initiated the call on Thursday.

Trump has said he will keep pushing to reinstate an executive order temporarily banning people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A U.S. judge suspended his order last week and a court refused on Thursday an appeal by the administration to reinstate it.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Janet Lawrence)