Mr. Al-Zaidi Goes to Washington

Jul 13, 2026

Also published in National Interest
Haibat al-Halbousi (R), Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi (L) at the parliament building ahead of a parliamentary session for a confidence vote on the cabinet formed by al-Zaidi - source: Reuters
About the Authors
David Schenker
David Schenker

David Schenker is the Taube Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics. He is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

Articles & Testimony

Despite significant progress, Iraq still has a long way to go to meet the Trump administration’s expectations for reining in Iranian influence.

President Donald Trump is bullish on Iraq and its new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, whom Trump will host for an Oval Office meeting this week. Trump has declared that al-Zaidi’s appointment represents “the beginning of a tremendous new chapter between our nations.” Since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, Washington and Baghdad have had a complicated relationship. Al-Zaidi’s first few weeks have shown promise. Still, undue Iranian influence in Iraq remains an impediment to improved US-Iraqi ties—one that will be difficult for the new prime minister to overcome. The Trump administration’s top priority is the disarmament and disbandment of the grouping of Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). These US-designated terrorist organizations—including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, and a few others—are funded by the Iraqi government but answerable to Tehran...

Read the full article on the National Interest website.

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