Ali al-Zaidi, the Prime Minister of Iraq, will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington today, 14 July as the American administration piles pressure on Baghdad to curb Iranian influence, news agency AFP said.
This is Al-Zaidi’s in his first international trip since taking office in April this year. Al-Zaidi’s week-long tour, to , that began on Monday, comes against the backdrop of renewed military escalation between the , Iraq’s main allies.
Al-Zaidi has alreadt met US Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack in Washington, DC, where they discussed strengthening , reviewed recent progress in bilateral economic ties, and explored ways to expand their strategic partnership, according to an official statement.
Washington and Tehran’s enmity has long turned Iraq into a proxy battleground and left successive governments struggling to maintain a delicate balance between the two foes.
Al-Zaidi’s Washington trip comes at a time when the US President has formally informed lawmakers that the country is once again at war with Iran, giving his administration 60 days to use the military in the region without congressional approval
Push for economic, trade, and investment ties
During Al- Zaidi’s visit, oil and gas deals are expected to be signed as part of a broader push for economic, trade, and investment cooperation between the two countries.
“The agreements to be signed will include several memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector, as Iraq prepares to bring in various US companies that will provide momentum to increase oil production capacity,” Government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi said on 13 July.
Al- Zaidi, who came to power arluer this year, has vowed to boost Iraq’s fragile economy and to disarm the pro-Iran armed groups that have targeted US facilities.
Al-Zaidi hopes to attract US investment after significant revenue losses caused by the halt in oil exports due to the Iran war and closure of the , Al Jazeera reported.
‘Legitimate monopoly on the use of force’
In an op-ed in the Washington Post ahead of his visit, Al Zaidi wrote that he leads “a government committed to ensuring that the state possesses the legitimate monopoly on the use of force”.
Al Zaidi’s government has given armed groups, which Washington designates as terrorist organisations, until September 30 to disarm, coinciding with the end of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition’s mission, AFP said.
A senior Iraqi politician told AFP on condition of anonymity that even if the current government adopts a more US-friendly path, prioritising the economy, “it doesn’t mean that Iraq is turning against Iran”.
Iraq “must maintain the long-standing balance” between its allies, he said.
Last week, Iraq’s holy cities, home to Shia Islam’s most sacred shrines, hosted a massive funeral procession for Iran’s late supreme leader , who was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Tehran.
US-Iraq relations
The US-Iraq relations had been strained over the continued presence of US troops in Iraq, Baghdad’s ties with Iran, and the pressure to disarm Iran-backed armed groups.
But Trump congratulated Al-Zaidi when he became Prime Minister of Iraq in April. The US president had then expressed hope that there would closer cooperation between Baghdad and Washington after Al Zaidi’s nomination.
Since April, Iraq has signed several deals with US companies in the oil sector. The US administration under also resumed cash shipments for Iraq’s oil revenue, which have been handled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2003.
In his WaPo op-ed, Al Zaidi said his message to the United States is that Iraq “stands apart from regional alignments and conflicts, and chooses instead the path of development”.
Oil agreemeents expected
Oil-rich Iraq has been trying to move past decades of war and unrest, but it still suffers from poor infrastructure, failing public services, mismanagement and endemic corruption, AFP said.
In his op-ed, Al- Zaidi said that in Washington he will create “opportunities that have a measurable economic impact” and wants “leading to consider opportunities in developing Iraq’s infrastructure”.
During his stay in the US, Al-Zaidi is expected to sign more agreements, including one to establish a fund into which Iraq will deposit half-a-million barrels of oil per day in exchange for help to boost the country’s electricity supply.
Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, was greatly affected by the ongoing war in the . The country is hugely dependent on oil exports, which make up about 90 percent of its budget revenues, and the vast majority of its crude travels via the disputed Strait of Hormuz.
(With inputs from agencies)
