US defense secretary makes unannounced trip to Iraq

(CNN) -- US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made an unannounced trip to Baghdad on Tuesday, according to the US press pool traveling with him.

Austin, the highest-ranking Cabinet official to visit the country since the start of the Biden administration, according to the press pool, said in a statement that he is in Iraq to "reaffirm the US-Iraq strategic partnership as we move toward a more secure, stable and sovereign Iraq."

Austin met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and is expected to meet other senior officials while he is in the country. The meeting with the Iraqi prime minister was not on camera, according to the pool traveling with the secretary.

After his visit to Baghdad, Austin will return to Amman, Jordan, where he started his trip to the Middle East on Sunday.