US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on April 30 with Iraqi businessman Ali al-Zaidi, congratulating him on his nomination as Iraq’s next prime minister and saying in a Truth Social post that he looked forward to the “beginning of a tremendous new chapter” in US-Iraq relations. In a post on X the following day, May 1, Zaidi added that Trump had invited him to the White House once a new government is formed.

Zaidi is the nominee of the Coordination Framework, the powerful alliance of Iraqi Shiite political parties that controls about 185 of the 329 seats in parliament. Iraqi President Nizar Amedi, a Kurd, asked Zaidi to form a government on Monday. Under Iraq’s power-sharing system, the presidency is held by a Kurd, the prime ministership by a Shiite, and the speakership by a Sunni (Haibet Al-Halbousi). Zaidi has 30 days to form a government, which requires a two-thirds vote in parliament. Check out the reports here by Adam Lucente on the Iraqi electoral process, and further background on Zaidi.

On May 1, Trump doubled down on his expectations for the new prime minister, telling reporters, “With our help, he won, and we want him to do very well. And I told him that the United States is with him all the way. It was a great victory, the new head of Iraq is somebody that we support, very strongly." 

While the government formation process can be tricky, there now appears to be a consensus in both Baghdad and Washington that Zaidi has the inside track. Expect things to move fast.