'Middle East's Trump' courts Iran after emptying Trump's pockets

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi (left) shakes hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian after signing bilateral cooperation agreements in Tehran on Thursday (local time). [EPA]

Iraq's pragmatic diplomacy is drawing sharp criticism from American conservatives, who feel betrayed after playing a major role in bringing Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to power, only to watch him pursue cooperation with Iran — Washington's foremost adversary in the region — in the name of practical statecraft.

The United States has long worked to install a pro-American government in Iraq as part of its bid to dominate the Middle East, and al-Zaidi's rise owed much to Donald Trump's wholehearted support. The prime minister visited the White House on July 14 for talks with Trump, who greeted him warmly and heaped on the praise. Trump told al-Zaidi he would become "a great leader not just for Iraq but for the entire Middle East" and that "his influence will spread across the region."

At that meeting, al-Zaidi secured a US commitment to support the reconstruction of an Iraq-Syria pipeline that would carry Middle Eastern oil to the Mediterranean, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz should it be blockaded. The infrastructure investment also serves American interests: Iran has wielded a potential Hormuz closure as its most potent wartime weapon, and the prospect of surging global oil prices weighs heavily on Washington. Iraq also attracted investment pledges from US energy companies.

Al-Zaidi then traveled to Tehran on Thursday, where he reviewed an honor guard alongside President Pezeshkian — a full ceremonial reception despite Iran being at war. The two countries signed four agreements and memoranda of understanding at the summit. The deals cover road transport infrastructure development, expansion of the Khosravi-Baghdad railway, a sister-city partnership between the two capitals Tehran and Baghdad, and exchanges for the development of government officials and human resources.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi (left) shakes hands with US President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on July 14 (local time). [Reuters]

Conservative US outlets including Fox News have covered the episode with undisguised displeasure, reporting that the Iraqi prime minister left the White House and went straight to Iran — a country at war with the United States — to pledge cooperation. The underlying grievance is clear: a leader who owes his office to American backing extracted a massive investment package in Washington, then crossed the border to be feted by an enemy state the moment he departed.

Viewed through the lens of realpolitik rather than idealism, Iraq's position is entirely understandable. Baghdad needs American support to stabilize its governing system, but it can ill afford to antagonize Iran, with which it shares a long border. Turning its back on Tehran out of loyalty to Washington would immediately hurt Iraq's border security, energy imports, rail connectivity and broader economy.

The entrenched strength of Shiite factions inside Iraq adds another layer of pressure. The country is home to Iran-funded and Iran-trained Shiite militias considered roughly equal in capability to the Iraqi regular military. Washington has demanded that al-Zaidi disarm the pro-Iran militias by Sept. 30. But any heavy-handed crackdown risks triggering civil conflict or even bringing down the government. Maintaining cordial relations with Iran — and quietly securing Tehran's tacit cooperation on militia control — is therefore one of Iraq's central diplomatic objectives.

Al-Zaidi's own governing philosophy of "extracting gains from every side" also shapes his tightrope diplomacy between Washington and Tehran. A businessman before entering politics, he is sometimes called the "Trump of the Middle East" and runs his government on a logic of interest over ideology.

That philosophy translates directly into his foreign policy. From the United States, al-Zaidi pulls in infrastructure reconstruction funds and oil and energy capital; from Iran, he secures cross-border rail links and regional trade cooperation. In the end, the "original Trump" handed the "Middle East's Trump" substantial prizes — pipeline reconstruction rights and oil-sector investment — in a deal that says as much about pragmatism as it does about loyalty.

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kate01@heraldcorp.com