US President Donald Trump welcomed Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, to the White House in an Oval Office meeting laden with geopolitical weight, pledging a sweeping new era of oil deals and economic investment between the two countries. At the same time, the war between the US and Iran raged in the very region they were discussing.
“We love Iraq, and they’re well represented,” Trump told reporters before walking into the Oval Office with the Iraqi premier.
He called al-Zaidi “a fantastic champion, a new champion” and heaped praise on the political newcomer he had personally backed for the job. The meeting, which extended into an unscheduled lunch, was the culmination of months of Trump administration manoeuvring to install a leader in Baghdad aligned with Washington rather than Tehran.
“Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil and because of other things, but because of their oil, and we’re going to be doing a lot of deals,” Trump said. He added that the US energy secretary would be making formal announcements about the agreements shortly after the meeting concluded.
“This man is going to be a great leader in the Middle East, beyond Iraq. His influence is going to spread all throughout the Middle East.” – President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xyp82UH0R3
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 14, 2026
A PM Handpicked From Washington
Al-Zaidi’s very presence in the Oval Office is a product of direct US pressure. The businessman with no political background emerged as a consensus candidate in Iraq after months of deadlock following last year’s parliamentary elections. Iraq’s dominant parliamentary bloc, the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran, initially backed former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom the Trump administration viewed as too close to Tehran.
Al-Maliki subsequently dropped out of contention in April after Trump publicly announced his opposition and threatened to cut off aid to Iraq entirely, posting that “if we are there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom” under al-Maliki’s leadership.
When al-Zaidi was formally installed as prime minister-designate in April, Trump said in a social media post that it was the “beginning of a tremendous new chapter between our Nations, Prosperity, Stability, and Success like never seen before.”
This man is going to be a great leader in the Middle East, beyond Iraq, Trump told reporters after the Oval Office session.
Notably, Trump also congratulated al-Zaidi on winning a “big election,” a remark that confused some observers in Baghdad, since al-Zaidi was not on the ballot in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. He was selected as prime minister through a negotiated political process among Iraq’s parliamentary factions, not through a direct popular vote, according to the Washington Post.
US Troops Out by September, Militias to Disarm by the Same Date
The meeting produced two symmetrical pledges that together define the central bargain Washington is seeking with Baghdad. Both Trump and al-Zaidi said the remaining US forces in Iraq, believed to number less than 2,000, would completely withdraw from Iraq by September 30, the same date al-Zaidi pledged that armed factions active across Iraq would disarm.
The alignment in timelines is deliberate, and reflects a years-long US demand that Iraq demonstrate genuine sovereignty over the Iran-backed paramilitary networks operating within its borders before Washington formally ends its military presence. A Trump administration official said ahead of the Oval Office meeting that the US will make “informed” decisions based on Iraq’s efforts to disarm Iranian-backed militias inside its borders.
In his first speech in parliament as prime minister, al-Zaidi vowed to disarm the country’s varied paramilitary groups, which have wielded power since the 2003 US-led war on Iraq. He has not said how he will achieve the ambitious goal.
Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, offered a candid assessment of the dynamics likely driving that ambiguity.
“The US will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi to move ahead with disarmament during his Washington visit, and Zaidi will respond by saying, ‘But I need support, intelligence support, technical support, armed support,'” Mansour said.
“There is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government. And this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.”
From Military to Economic: A Strategic Pivot
Al-Zaidi framed the meeting as marking a fundamental shift in the character of the US-Iraq relationship. He said US-Iraqi relations were shifting from militaristic to economic, and called for Iraq to receive “a fair share” from OPEC on its oil production quotas.
“The damage suffered by Iraq exceeds $400 billion, and to this day, some Iraqis still have destroyed homes and are living in camps,” al-Zaidi said, framing an expanded OPEC quota as a matter of postwar reconstruction rather than revenue maximisation.
The Iraqi premier’s delegation to Washington included a number of Iraqi businessmen as well as government officials, and al-Zaidi’s office said in a statement that the aim of the visit was to “strengthen economic and development partnerships, attract investment, and expand the role of US companies in implementing infrastructure projects” and to further develop Iraq’s energy sector.
A Contradictory Past, a Contested Future
The warmth of the White House reception sits alongside significant complications in al-Zaidi’s own background. Al-Zaidi received Trump’s blessing despite being chairman of Al-Janoob Islamic Bank — among the financial institutions banned by Iraq’s central bank in 2024 from dealing in dollars amid US pressure to crack down on money laundering and the funnelling of funds to Iran.
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 a number affiliated with former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
Iran-Backed Groups Reject the Meeting’s Outcome Before It Began
The most immediate test of al-Zaidi’s pledges came not from Washington, but from within Iraq itself. Shortly before he departs for Washington, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups, said it would reject any outcomes of al-Zaidi’s visit.
The warning underscores the impossibility of the tightrope al-Zaidi must walk upon his return to Baghdad: a leader who owes his office in significant part to American backing, now pledging to dismantle the Iran-aligned networks whose continued existence was, for years, a condition of political stability in a country where Washington and Tehran have long fought a cold war for influence.
Whether the oil deals, investment pledges and warm Oval Office photographs that defined Tuesday’s meeting can be converted into real leverage over those networks, before September’s twin deadlines arrive, will determine whether this particular chapter of US-Iraq relations delivers on the “tremendous new chapter” US President Trump has promised.
