President Trump welcomed Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, to the White House on Tuesday for a high-stakes meeting on energy, trade and the conflict in the Middle East.
Mr. al-Zaidi exchanged a warm handshake with Mr. Trump after arriving at the West Wing doors in a black SUV adorned with American and Iraqi flags.
“We love Iraq,” Mr. Trump said before pointing to Mr. al-Zaidi. “They are very well-represented, I can tell you that.”
Mr. al-Zaidi is expected to pursue economic agreements with the U.S. while the administration pushes the new Iraqi leader to disarm Iran-backed militias that operate within Iraq.
Mr. al-Zaidi, 40, was sworn in on May 14. He has a background in business and banking, rather than politics, and is Iraq’s youngest prime minister.
The president supported Mr. al-Zaidi during this year’s election. Mr. Trump’s administration felt the main alternative, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was too closely aligned with Tehran.
Mr. Trump threatened to cut off aid and said on social media that Iraq would have “ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom” under Mr. al-Maliki.
The U.S. president said the installation of Mr. al-Zaidi as prime minister-designate in April marked the start of a “tremendous new chapter between our Nations — Prosperity, Stability, and Success like never seen before.”
Now Mr. Trump will be leaning on Mr. al-Zaidi to take action against the Iran-backed militias.
The Treasury Department issued sanctions on the militias, including Kata’ib Hizballah and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haqq, in April.
One of the militias was linked to the kidnapping of American journalist Shelly Kittleson in Iraq. She was taken from a Baghdad street on March 31 and freed on April 7.
Treasury also slapped sanctions on an Iraqi official who facilitated the sale of Iranian oil.
Mr. Trump is meeting with the Iraqi leader as the U.S. and Iran tip back into a full-scale war.
The countries were unable to fulfill a mid-June memorandum of understanding designed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and usher in lasting peace.
Instead, the U.S. and Iran are jockeying over control of the strait and exchanging airstrikes, threatening to upend energy markets and drag the Gulf region back into war.
Mr. Trump on Tuesday backed off a plan to charge tolls on foreign ships in the strait, opting instead to seek investments from Gulf states in exchange for security guarantees in the waterway.
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