Trump meets with Iraq prime minister at White House, vows ‘a lot of deals’

Iraqi prime minister says relations with US shifting from militaristic to economic, vows disarmament of factions.United States President Donald Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi have met at the White House in Washington, DC, with both leaders pledging to deepen economic ties and boost Iraq’s oil output.The meeting on Tuesday came after Trump threw his support behind al-Zaidi, a businessman with no history in politics, and publicly opposed Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the prime minister role earlier this year.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump says US ‘may take over Kharg Island’: Here’s what you need to knowlist 2 of 3Strait of Hormuz traffic plunges as US, Iran resume fightinglist 3 of 3The US is building a new pressure architecture against Iranend of listAl-Maliki, a divisive figure seen as having close ties to Iran, subsequently dropped out of contention in April.The Iraqi government had previously said it expected several oil and gas agreements to be signed during al-Zaidi’s visit to the US, with Trump also vowing a raft of deals during the Oval Office meeting.He called al-Zaidi “a fantastic champion, a new champion”.“Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil and because of other things, but because of their oil, and we’re going to be doing a lot of deals,” Trump said.“We’re going to create a lot of jobs for both countries, and we’re going to be taking out a lot of oil. A lot of oil is coming out,” he said.Al-Zaidi, meanwhile, said the “visit was not like any other visit”, calling it the beginning of an “economic partnership”.He said US-Iraqi relations were shifting from militaristic to economic.Both he and Trump said the remaining US forces in Iraq, believed to number less than 2,000, would completely withdraw from Iraq by September 30. That is the same date al-Zaidi pledged that armed factions active across Iraq would disarm.