Trump says US will “no longer help Iraq” if Iraq chooses Maliki as prime minister

President Donald Trump has threatened to end U.S. support for Iraq if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returns to power.

Maliki, who has ties to Iran, was chosen over the weekend as a candidate for prime minister by a coalition of Shiite-led parties.

The US president wrote on Truth Social that Maliki would be a “very bad choice”, adding: “The last time Maliki was in power, the country was in poverty and complete chaos.”

Maliki’s tenure from 2006 to 2014 was marked by sectarian violence, and he stepped down after Islamic State overran much of the country.

Maliki is typically nominated by the president, who plays a largely ceremonial role, after receiving the support on Saturday from a Shiite coalition known as the Coordination Framework.

Iraq’s parliament was scheduled to elect a president on Tuesday, but the vote was postponed after failing to agree on a presidential candidate.

Influential Shiite groups in Baghdad have separate ties to the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran, which is also controlled by Shiite clerics.

Washington has expressed concern about Iran-linked groups deepening their influence in the region, including in Iraq.

Trump said he would “no longer help” the country if Maliki was elected, but said the country’s chances of success were “zero” without U.S. support.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concern about Maliki’s ties to Iran in a phone call with current Prime Minister Mohammad Shea al-Sudani on Sunday, stressing that “an Iranian-controlled government cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first.”

Trump has often broken ranks by meddling in elections in other countries, backing other right-wing candidates in elections in Poland, Romania and Honduras, where U.S.-backed winners were inaugurated on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the U.S. military arrested then-Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro to face trial in New York.

Maliki led Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that led to the ouster and eventual execution of Saddam Hussein, who had overseen a brutal crackdown on Shiite Muslims for three decades.

Maliki presided over a chaotic period during which sectarian violence between Kurds and Sunnis escalated.

A harsh crackdown on opponents has been blamed for radicalizing the Islamic State group of Sunni extremists, which by the time Maliki was ousted in 2014 controlled large swathes of territory and several major cities.