As relations between the U.S. and Iran appear to have never been worse, with the two nations actively at war since February of this year, matters between the U.S. and Iran’s closest neighbor to the east are taking on a decidedly different aspect.
Ten days ago, representatives of the two countries, along with a handful of both U.S. and Iraq companies, put their signatures to a series of agreements representing some $60 billion in economic activity.
The agreements were forged during a one-day event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appropriately called the “U.S.-Iraq Business Summit.”
Amid the summit, Al-Zaidi, the prime minster of Iraq, remarked: “We are using an open-door policy. Everybody who has a project can come and talk to us; we will not make it difficult for anyone.”
Altogether, nearly 50 agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed, prompting Suzanne Clark, chief executive officer of the Chamber, to remark that the agreements provided “tangible demonstrations of confidence and shared ambition.”
Added Clark: “They signal where the future of the U.S.-Iraq bilaterial relationship is headed: toward deeper commercial ties, greater economic cooperation, and stronger partnerships that create value for both our countries.”
The agreements relate to proposed energy, healthcare, and technology projects, and represent, notes the site Military.com, “a clear transition after more than two decades of U.S. military engagement in Iraq.”
The last of American forces in Iraq, according to a prior bilaterial agreement, are scheduled to leave the country by September 30. That final exit, some policymakers have suggested, may harbor the beginning of new commercial partnerships.
The agreements, according to Zaidi’s media office, include partnerships with such U.S. corporate giants as ExxonMobil, Halliburton, and Shell. Of note is an agreement centered on the future construction of “pipelines to Baniyas on the Mediterranean Sea.”
The summit meeting came days after Iraq signed a separate agreement with the U.S. designed to halt U.S. dollars from flowing to Iran from Iraq in exchange for the U.S. lifting a suspension of currency shipments that has been in place since March.
That move, notes the Wall Street Journal, is a piece of a larger strategy trying to push Iraq to “align itself more closely with Washington” in the wake of the conflict with Iran.
A businessman who owns a television station and the Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, Zaldi has fashioned himself as a Trump-like figure in Iraq. In his first weeks in office, his administration has inaugurated anti-corruption moves resulting, says the New York Times, in the “arrest of dozens of the country’s entrenched political elite.”
July 28, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Image courtesy of Unsplash
