Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said on Tuesday his government will not allow any party to carry weapons outside the authority of the state after the US-led anti-ISIS coalition ends its mission in the country on September 30.
He made his remarks while meeting President Donald Trump at the White House at the beginning of an official visit to the US. The visit will focus on security files, as well as investment, energy and bilateral relations at a time when Baghdad is seeking to bolster its partnership with Washington and maintain balanced relations in the region.
The American administration has been pressuring Iraq to impose state monopoly over arms, meaning cracking down on Iran-aligned armed factions and their influence.
Al-Zaidi said that Iraqi authorities have already received weapons from some armed factions.
“After September 30, we won’t allow any party outside of the state to carry weapons,” he stressed.
Trump, meanwhile, praised the new PM, saying the US is “going to have a long-term relationship with Iraq. We're going to have a long-term relationship with a man that will be a great leader.”
He announced that Washington will reveal next week a major oil partnership with Baghdad. Iraq has “tremendous oil reserves, they have tremendous potential wealth,” he added.
Trump also said the US was ready to support Iraq if it needed protection, but he added that he thinks it may not be necessary.
The US president hailed al-Zaidi, saying he will remain in his position for a long time and that “in a short period of time he's changed that country so much, especially toward their thinking about the United States.”
“It's a great honor to have the Prime Minister of Iraq with us. He's been a great fighter, and he's been a great fan of America,” he went on to say.
“We're there to help them [Iraq]. We're there to protect them, if need be, but we don't think that's going to be necessary. And their -- their primary, I consider it an opponent. They might have considered a friend, but I consider that an opponent, was Iran, was a big burden on Iraq because they were the bully of the Middle East,” Trump remarked.
“This man is going to be a great leader in the Middle East, beyond Iraq. His influence is going to spread all throughout the Middle East, and we're very happy about it and we are very happy to have you with us.”
Underscoring the complicated competing interests that al-Zaidi is confronting in Iraq, the PM sidestepped a question about Trump's remarks on the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“At that time, I wasn’t involved in politics," al-Zaidi said. "Let’s talk about the future.”
He stressed that the economic situation in Iraq demanded that his government work on forging a strong partnership with the US, saying Baghdad wants to elevate the ties from crisis management to building economic and investment opportunities.
Before departing Iraq, he said he was keen on effectively deepening the partnership, revealing that he will offer Trump means to achieve that.
“I will deliver a message that Iraq, as a sovereign nation, stands at an equal distance from regional conflicts and chooses to embark on the path of development, extending its hands to friends in the process,” he added.
Iraqi state television said al-Zaidi will also meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior Pentagon officials, as well as members of Congress and head of the World Bank.
He will travel to Houston for meetings with officials from Halliburton, Chevron and ExxonMobil, and head of the US Chamber of Commerce.
