On Tuesday, July 15th, 2026, Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Al-Zaidi, a 40-year-old banker with no established political base, was chosen as prime minister just eleven weeks earlier by the Shia alliance known as the Coordination Framework, which took only 25 minutes to select him after months of political paralysis.

This rapid consensus was reportedly influenced by intense pressure from Washington DC. The United States Treasury had frozen Iraq’s dollar lifeline by halting cash shipments from New Jersey to the Central Bank of Iraq, effectively vetoing former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s plans to return to office.

In 2024, Iraq’s Central Bank barred al-Zaidi’s own institution, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, from conducting US-dollar transactions as part of a broader crackdown aimed at curbing illicit dollar flows to Iran.

Meanwhile, militias such as Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali have announced steps toward handing over their weapons or placing them under fuller state control, signaling a shift in Iraq’s security dynamics.

Washington’s vision for Iraq appears to include eliminating militias operating outside state control, reducing Iranian influence over Iraqi policy, preventing dominance by any single sect, fostering a Western-oriented economy benefiting American energy firms, and having a prime minister who is effectively accountable to US interests.

Whether Iraq will move toward the Abraham Accords, see a resurgence of nationalist or Ba’athist currents, or experience a decline in sectarian party influence remains uncertain.

Sources