U.S. - Baghdad situation tense, no tanks at president's compound

EDGARTOWN Mass (Reuters) - The United States views defiant comments from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as troubling but has seen no evidence of Iraqi forces mobilizing in an unusual way despite a tense climate in Baghdad, a U.S. official said on Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had spoken to Iraq's Kurdish President Fouad Masoum and his aides, who said reports of tanks surrounding the presidential compound were not true.