Iraqi PM To Meet With Biden at White House Amid Background of Regional Chaos
US President Joe Biden is slated to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Washington on Monday for previously scheduled high-level talks, the gravity of which has increased markedly given the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Iran’s first proper attack on Israel over the weekend.
The Iranian military’s launch of hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles against Israel serves as the background to al-Sudani’s first visit to the White House since his Iran-friendly coalition took the premiership in late 2022.
It was reported that multiple Iranian ordinances launched toward Israel came from within Iraq or crossed through the country’s airspace. In Irbil, Iraq, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region—the government of which is a close US ally—a US Patriot missile system destroyed at least one Iranian ballistic missile, US officials say.
While the talks are expected to focus on a range of issues, including trade, development, and energy, the two will also discuss regional stability and the future of the American military presence in Iraq, US officials say.
Tension over the ongoing US troop deployment in Iraq has rippled through Iraqi domestic politics, with Shiite Iran-aligned factions calling for the immediate departure of the US-led coalition force originally established to dismantle the Islamic State.
Al-Sudani’s administration, largely seen as Iraq’s most Iran-friendly to date, has attempted to maintain positive relations with the US concurrently, but issues including the killing of three American servicemembers by an Iran-backed militia, the restriction of US dollars to Iraqi banks, and tension surrounding the scheduled American troop withdrawal have frayed the relationship.
Speaking on the topic of a scheduled American military pull-out, one US official disclosed that “it is not the primary focus of the visit… but it is almost certainly going to come up.”
