President Donald Trump on Tuesday said if Iraq elects Nouri Al Maliki as its prime minister, the US would no longer support the country and it would have “zero chance” of success.
“Last time Maliki was in power, the country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“If we are not there to help, Iraq has zero chance of success, prosperity or freedom.”
Iraq is working towards forming a new government after elections in November.
Mr Al Maliki previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2014. On Saturday, the dominant alliance in Iraq's parliament, a Shiite political bloc, announced that it had nominated him as its candidate for the post.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mark Savaya, the US envoy to Iraq, said that Washington has a “comprehensive understanding” of people engaged in corrupt practices in the country.
Mr Savaya said in a post on X that while the US was supporting Baghdad while it was forming a government and acting to prevent Iranian-backed militias from taking up powerful roles, “it is equally and even more critical to prepare for confronting the corruption crisis”.
“This effort must go beyond tracking funds that were looted and transferred outside the country. It must also identify where those funds went and how they were ultimately used,” Mr Savaya said.
He said that through co-ordination with Iraqi institutions, the US had discovered senior government officials and their family members had used corrupt funds to buy properties abroad and to obtain foreign citizenships, sometimes under different names, taking advantage of “citizenship-by-investment” programmes offered by some countries.
He did not reveal the names of the people accused of corruption.
“Corruption not only harms the Iraqi people and undermines national security, but also empowers terrorist groups and fuels terrorist activities across multiple countries,” Mr Savaya said.
The US envoy to Iraq has increasingly voiced concern over Tehran-backed militias and corruption.
“Militias are a symptom. Corruption is the disease,” he said in a post last week. “Any serious effort to stabilise Iraq, restore sovereignty and dismantle militias must begin with dismantling the corruption networks that finance and protect them.”
This month, Mr Savaya said the US will increase scrutiny of financial transactions in Iraq for links to the funding of “terrorist activities” and impose sanctions.
