FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is pictured at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 18, 2019. Francisco Seco//Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraqi government should listen to Iraqi protesters and relax recently imposed restrictions on the media and free expression, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Friday.

Pompeo also said all sides should reject violence, adding that the Iraqi government’s probe of violence that occurred in early October “lacked sufficient credibility.”