AL-MALIKI: I WILL NOT WITHDRAW AT THE REQUEST OF AN EXTERNAL PARTY AND I AM READY TO CONCEDE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS.
Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the State of Law Coalition and the Coordination Framework’s candidate for the position of Prime Minister, spoke this evening about new details regarding the American rejection and what followed President Donald Trump’s tweet about his candidacy for the position, stressing his readiness to concede on certain conditions.
Al-Maliki said in an interview on a local channel, which was monitored by the “Roj News” agency, that he is an Iraqi citizen, and that his nomination for the position of Prime Minister of Iraq was done by an Iraqi institution, which is the “Coordination Framework”, and therefore it is not possible for him to withdraw based on a request from a foreign country.
He added that Trump was misled against his candidacy for a third term by three countries and domestic parties, adding: “I heard that the tweet was written here, but I haven’t confirmed this yet.”
Al-Maliki pointed out that his candidacy would not expose Iraq to economic sanctions by the United States, noting that this matter is being promoted with the aim of pushing towards abandoning this candidacy.
According to the head of the State of Law Coalition, he would be prepared to give up his candidacy for prime minister if this came at the request of the majority of the coordinating framework.
Regarding the new Syria, Maliki stated that “Iraq will be ready to cooperate with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and that the Syrian and Iraqi peoples are brothers.”