An invitation to the White House from US President Joe Biden was extended to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at a meeting in New York with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a State Department official.
Sudani, who is currently attending the UN General Assembly in New York, indicated that a date for the official visit to Washington would be decided upon later.
Since Sudani was appointed by a coalition of parties, primarily Shi’ite Muslim organizations close to Tehran, and was sworn in as president last year, Biden and Sudani have not yet met.
Sudani and Blinken “renewed their commitment to continue strengthening the partnership between the two countries,” the State Department official stated.
The US and Iraq have reportedly been close allies since Washington’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, and both sides claim they are working to diversify their partnership away from a nearly exclusive focus on counterterrorism and defense to include economic collaboration.
Blinken during the meeting “underscored US support” for the re-opening of a pipeline between Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and Turkey that has been shut since March.
Although it’s unclear whether Baghdad and Ankara have reached an agreement on the parameters of a resumed flow of crude oil, Turkey indicated last week that the pipeline, which supplies approximately 0.5% of the world’s oil supply, would be ready to begin operations soon.
Aside from that, Blinken “commended the Prime Minister’s commitment to judicial independence in Iraq’s recent conviction and sentencing of multiple individuals on terrorism charges in connection with the killing of U.S. citizen Stephen Troell.”
An Iranian man and four Iraqis were given life sentences in prison by Iraq this month for the murder of Troell in November 2022 in a middle-class area of central Baghdad.
Although the defendants’ names were withheld by the court, officials said the four Iraqis were part of a Shi’ite Muslim militia.
