Trump's Iraq sanctions threat 'not very helpful': Germany

US President Donald Trump's threat to slap sanctions on Iraq should Baghdad expel US troops based there "is not very helpful", German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Monday.

"I don't think you can convince Iraq with threats, but with arguments," Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio after Iraqi lawmakers voted to end an agreement with a US-led international coalition to fight the hardline Islamist group IS in the region.