The transition of power in Iraq usually moves with the glacial, agonizing pace of a desert sandstorm, choked by the competing interests of Tehran and Washington. But when the Coordination Framework—the coalition of Iran-aligned Shiite parties—finally settled on Iraq’s next prime minister, the process took exactly twenty-five minutes.

The result was Ali al-Zaidi, a 40-year-old banker with no political pedigree and a “blank slate” resume. To some in Baghdad, he is a compromise; to Washington, he is the byproduct of a high-stakes financial and diplomatic squeeze that has redefined American leverage in the post-U.S.-Israeli war landscape.

The ascent of al-Zaidi marks a sharp pivot in President Trump’s Middle East strategy, one where the U.S. Treasury is deployed as aggressively as the Pentagon.

The story of al-Zaidi’s rise is less about his own qualifications and more about the man Trump was determined to extinguish: Nouri al-Maliki.

The story of al-Zaidi’s rise is less about his own qualifications and more about the man Trump was determined to extinguish: Nouri al-Maliki.

For the Coordination Framework, al-Maliki was the veteran choice, a known quantity with deep ties to Iran. For the Trump administration, he was a “red line.” The White House did not merely suggest an alternative; it issued an ultimatum. To ensure the Framework “blinked,” Washington moved to sever the Iraqi state’s carotid artery: the flow of oil revenues held at the Federal Reserve........

© Middle East Monitor