Al-Maliki has been nominated as the prime ministerial candidate by the largest Shiite bloc in parliament.
Published January 27, 2026
President Donald Trump has threatened to cut U.S. aid to Iraq if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has ties to America’s longtime enemy Iran, returns to his post.
President Trump said on Tuesday that Iraq would make a “very bad choice” in al-Maliki, who was nominated days earlier by the Coordination Framework, the largest Shiite bloc in parliament, as its candidate, in his latest intervention in another country’s politics.
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“The last time Mr. Maliki was in power, this country descended into poverty and utter chaos. We should not allow that to happen again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Because of his insane policies and ideology, if elected, the United States will no longer support Iraq,” he said.
“If we don’t come to our rescue, Iraq has no chance of success, prosperity and freedom. Let’s make Iraq great again!”
President Trump’s comments are the most blatant example of the Republican president’s campaign to curb the influence of Iranian-affiliated groups in Iraq. Iraq has long walked a tightrope between its two closest allies, the United States and Iran.
The U.S. representative said in the letter that while the choice of prime minister is Iraq’s decision, “the United States will make its own sovereign decision regarding the next government in line with U.S. interests.”
As part of President Trump’s pressure campaign, the US government threatened senior Iraqi politicians with sanctions against the country if Iranian-backed militants were integrated into the next government, Reuters reported last week.
Mr. al-Maliki, 75, is a senior member of the Shiite Dawa Party. His tenure as prime minister from 2006 to 2014 was marked by power struggles with Sunni and Kurdish rivals and rising tensions with the United States.
Although he resigned in 2014 after the Islamic State (ISIS) group overran much of the country, he remains an influential politician, leading the Coalition for the Rule of Law and maintaining close ties with Iranian-backed groups.
The United States wields significant influence over Iraq, as most of the country’s oil export revenues are kept at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in an agreement reached after the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
