President Donald Trump provided a big update on Tuesday morning regarding the U.S. conflict with Iran.
President Trump welcomed Iraq’s newly elected Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House, where they discussed economic cooperation—especially oil and investment—alongside efforts to counter Iranian-backed militias and stabilize the relationship.
Trump said al-Zaidi leading Iraq was the “beginning of a tremendous new chapter between our nations—prosperity, stability, and success like never seen before.”
“The oil companies are all going in now and they’re doing partnerships with Iraq, and they’re getting along very well,” Trump said.
“We will have a strong partnership with Iraq in the field of oil and we will announce it soon. Oil companies will enter Iraq at unprecedented levels,” Trump added.
Trump then discussed the reduced need for a large U.S. troop presence, with a focus on protection if required.
“I don’t think we need to be militarily present in Iraq. We don’t need the military there… We’re there to protect them if need be, but we don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” Trump declared.
The president went on to answer a question about Iran’s past influence and recent developments reducing it in the region.
“Iran was a big burden on Iraq… but they’re not going to have that problem anymore. Iran is a burden on Iraq because it is a bully to Middle Eastern countries,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed confidence in the Iraqi Prime Minister, saying something to the effect of “He is gonna be there for a long time.”
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The Atlantic Council’s Victoria Taylor, who is in charge of the Iraq Initiative, said that al-Zaidi has been called the “Trump of the Middle East” because he has a business background and no political experience.
“When you value business success, I think then it’s very appealing to look at an Iraqi prime minister who is likely a billionaire and can be really pointed to as a political outsider,” she said.
But Taylor added that “the reality is much more complicated,” noting that al-Zaidi was chosen by the current political infrastructure in Iraq and will be “beholden in some way to that system.”
“I’m not always sure that there’s a full appreciation of the challenge that this prime minister will face in actually trying to really dismantle core parts of the political system,” she said.
Taylor noted the obstacles that al-Zaidi will face as he tries to disarm the Iran-backed militias or challenge political corruption.
U.S. and Iraq also are poised to finalize a major energy deal.
An agreement is expected to be signed Friday between Iraq, U.S. companies Chevron and TI Capital and Qatar’s UCC for construction of an oil pipeline that will link southern Iraq’s Basra to western Iraq’s Haditha and then to the Ceyhan port in Turkey and the port of Baniyas on Syria’s coast, two Iraqi officials said.
The pipeline would transport some 2 million barrels of oil daily.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
