Photograph Source: Tech. Sgt. Stephen Faulisi, U.S. Air Force – Public Domain

The Trump administration is implementing a new imperial scheme to gain control of Iraq’s oil.

Although President Trump appears to be winding down U.S. involvement in Iraq, declaring on September 30 that “we’re getting the hell out of there,” he is working on a new plan to crack open the country’s oil industry. By intervening in the country’s politics, including the selection of its prime minister, the president believes he can pressure the Iraqi government into accepting new oil deals that will enable U.S. energy companies to begin taking vast amounts of oil out of the country.

“We’re going to be taking out a lot of oil,” Trump said in July, when he welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House. “A lot of oil is coming out, and the American companies are doing it.”

Trump’s Approach

For several months now, the Trump administration has been quietly laying the foundation for a new era of U.S. imperialism in Iraq. Although it has withdrawn U.S. military forces from the country, sticking to a deal reached between the Biden administration and the Iraqi government, it has begun exploiting U.S. economic and political power to exercise powerful influence over the Iraqi government.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration intervened in the country’s parliamentary process to prevent former Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki from returning to power and clear a pathway for wealthy businessman Ali al-Zaidi to become the country’s next prime minister. Putting extraordinary pressure on the Iraqi government when it was trying to choose its new leaders, the Trump administration suspended funding for the country’s security forces, which provide security for government officials. At the same time, it prevented the Iraqi government from receiving revenues from its oil sales, which are held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Although the administration presented its moves as a matter of pressuring the Iraqi government into distancing itself from Iran, it provided leeway for al-Zaidi, who is an owner of a bank with alleged ties to Iran. In fact, Trump openly supported al-Zaidi, encouraging Iraqi leaders to accept him as the country’s next prime minister.

After the Iraqi government caved to U.S. pressure and made al-Zaidi prime minister, the Trump administration then began organizing its approach to Iraq around al-Zaidi, believing he would open the country’s oil industry to U.S. oil companies. The administration restarted transfers of the........

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