Washington has reassured Iraqi leaders that there is no reason to worry about dramatic changes in policy as a result of Tuesday’s US elections, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to Iraq, has told the Financial Times.

Some of the Iraqis “are not as used to [American domestic politics], when things are being said in the heat of the political fight”. Some of them took that “as an indication that policies will change dramatically”, he said.