{"id":139005,"date":"2026-07-14T10:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-rolls-out-the-white-house-welcome-mat-for-new-iraqi-prime-minister-ali-al-zaidi\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:24:24","slug":"trump-rolls-out-the-white-house-welcome-mat-for-new-iraqi-prime-minister-ali-al-zaidi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-rolls-out-the-white-house-welcome-mat-for-new-iraqi-prime-minister-ali-al-zaidi\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump welcomes new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President
President Donald Trump meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> welcomed Iraq’s new prime minister to the White House on Tuesday after strongly backing the political neophyte in his bid for office.<\/p>\n

Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman with no political background, emerged as a consensus candidate in Iraq after months of deadlock over the premiership following last year\u2019s parliamentary elections. When al-Zaidi was formally installed as prime minister-designate in April, Trump said in a social media post<\/a> that it was the \u201cbeginning of a tremendous new chapter between our Nations \u2014 Prosperity, Stability, and Success like never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s interest and involvement<\/a> in the next leadership in Iraq began long before that statement.<\/p>\n

Iraq\u2019s dominant parliamentary bloc, the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran, initially said it would back former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom the Trump administration views as too close to Tehran. The Republican president publicly announced his opposition to al-Maliki<\/a> and threatened to cut off aid to Iraq if he was appointed, adding that \u201cif we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue of Iran is likely to loom large in the discussions Tuesday. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm a network of Iran-backed militias operating in the country, some of which launched attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel launched their war<\/a> against Iran in February. Officially, the Iraqi government has given non-state armed groups until the end of September to disarm, but some of the most powerful militias have said they have no intention of doing so.<\/p>\n

A Trump administration official said ahead of the Oval Office meeting that the U.S. will make \u201cinformed\u201d decisions based on Iraq\u2019s efforts to disarm Iranian-backed militias inside its borders. The official was granted anonymity to discuss the administration\u2019s strategy ahead of al-Zaidi\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Al-Zaidi has been called \u2018Trump of the Middle East\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Victoria Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council, noted that al-Zaidi has been likened to \u201cTrump of the Middle East\u201d considering his business background and lack of political experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you value business success, I think then it\u2019s very appealing to look at an Iraqi prime minister who is likely a billionaire and can be really pointed to as a political outsider,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But Taylor added that \u201cthe reality is much more complicated,\u201d noting that al-Zaidi was chosen by the current political infrastructure in Iraq and will be \u201cbeholden in some way to that system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not always sure that there\u2019s a full appreciation of the challenge that this prime minister will face in actually trying to really dismantle core parts of the political system,\u201d she said, noting the obstacles that al-Zaidi will face as he tries to disarm the Iran-backed militias or challenge political corruption.<\/p>\n

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, said he expects that \u201cthe U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi\u201d to move ahead with disarmament during his Washington visit \u201cand Zaidi will respond by saying, \u2018But I need support \u2014 intelligence support, technical support, armed support.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government,\u201d Mansour said. \u201cAnd this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil pipeline deal is set to be signed, Iraqi officials say<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two governments are also poised to finalize a significant energy deal.<\/p>\n

Two Iraqi officials said an agreement is slated to be signed Friday between Iraq, U.S. companies Chevron and TI Capital, and Qatar\u2019s UCC for construction of an oil pipeline that will connect southern Iraq\u2019s Basra to western Iraq’s Haditha and from there to the Ceyhan port in Turkey and the port of Baniyas on Syria\u2019s coast. The pipeline is projected to carry about 2 million barrels of oil per day. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.<\/p>\n

Al-Zaidi received Trump\u2019s blessing, despite the fact that he was chairman of a bank, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, that was among the financial institutions banned by Iraq\u2019s central bank in 2024 from dealing in dollars amid pressure from the U.S. to crack down on money laundering and funneling of funds to Iran.<\/p>\n

Since taking office, al-Zaidi has made a public show of cracking down on corruption. His government has conducted raids and arrested dozens of current and former lawmakers and government officials accused of corruption, including some affiliated with former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.<\/p>\n

The Iraqi premier\u2019s delegation to Washington includes a number of Iraqi businessmen and government officials, and al-Zaidi\u2019s office said in a statement that the aim of the visit is to \u201cstrengthen economic and development partnerships, attract investment, and expand the role of U.S. companies in implementing infrastructure projects\u201d and to further develop the oil-rich country\u2019s energy sector.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show Trump said \u201cif we are not there to help,\u201d not \u201cif we are there to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP’s coverage of Iraq at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/iraq<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"President
President Donald Trump meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Donald Trump, gestures as he greets Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington.(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Donald Trump greets Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington.(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Donald Trump greets Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump welcomed Iraq’s new prime minister to the White House on Tuesday after strongly backing the political neophyte in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139005"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139021,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139005\/revisions\/139021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139005"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}