MALIKI’S FIRST RESPONSE TO TRUMP: I REJECT AMERICAN INTERFERENCE… AND I WILL CONTINUE WORKING UNTIL THE END.
Nouri al-Maliki, the candidate nominated by the Coordination Framework for the premiership, responded to US President Donald Trump’s rejection of him, saying that he “will continue working until the end.”
Al-Maliki said in a post monitored by “Al-Jabal” that “we categorically reject the blatant American interference in the internal affairs of Iraq, and we consider it a violation of its sovereignty and contrary to the democratic system in Iraq after 2003, and an infringement on the decision of the Coordination Framework for choosing its candidate for the position of Prime Minister.”
He pointed out that “the language of dialogue between countries is the only political option in dealing with them, and not resorting to the language of dictates and threats.”
He added: “Out of respect for the national will and the decision of the Coordinating Framework guaranteed by the Iraqi Constitution, I will continue to work until we reach the end, in a way that achieves the higher interests of the Iraqi people.”
The coordinating framework had announced last week that the forces and parties under it had agreed to nominate Nouri al-Maliki to assume the presidency of the next Iraqi government.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump confirmed in a post on his Truth Social account his rejection of al-Maliki’s nomination to head the new Iraqi government.
Trump said, “I hear that great Iraq might make a grave mistake by bringing Nouri al-Maliki back as prime minister. Under Maliki’s previous term, the country slid into the abyss of poverty and chaos, and that should not be allowed to happen again.” He added, “Because of his policies and extreme ideologies, if he is elected, the United States will cease providing assistance to Iraq, and if we are not there to help, Iraq will have no chance of success, prosperity, or freedom. Let’s make Iraq great again!”
The US wields key leverage over Iraq, as the country’s oil export revenue is largely held at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York in an arrangement reached after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
