Trump hails Iraqi prime minister as ‘fantastic guy’ as Iraq seeks sanctions exemption

President Trump shakes hands with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi as they participate in a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2026. (Reuters/Evan Vucci)

NEW YORK — After a brief meeting at the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump officially announced that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has achieved the highest honor attainable in modern international diplomacy: being a fantastic guy.

"It went great. He's a fantastic man. He's a friend of mine. I endorsed him, right? I mean, I endorsed him, the Iraqi prime minister, he's a fantastic guy," Trump said Saturday when simply asked how the meeting went.

The glowing endorsement arrived just as the Office of Iraq’s Prime Minister announced Saturday it is in talks with the U.S. Treasury Department to secure an exemption linked to the shutdown of Iranian airlines.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously announced that all Iranian airlines will be "shut down" starting Wednesday during the Operation Economic Outcast pressure campaign against the regime in Tehran.

Upon realizing that "shut down" meant actual planes would stop flying, Iraqi officials immediately requested a special pass.

"The Iraqi government is conducting direct dialogue with the American side to exempt some Iraqi airports from these measures, in a manner that allows the resumption of air travel, for humanitarian reasons related to treatment, study, religious visits, and civilian interests," the Iraq Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday.

Middle Eastern diplomats then released a carefully worded statement urging everyone to just calm down and talk it out.

"While the Iraqi government is working to de-escalate the situation in the region, it affirms that the continuation of crises complicates the scene further, and calls on all parties to engage in dialogue and negotiation to reach solutions that end the current crisis and conflicts, in a way that achieves the interests of the region's countries and peoples," it added.

At press time, Treasury officials were reviewing the exemption request while trying to determine if being a "fantastic guy" carries official diplomatic immunity from economic sanctions.

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U.S. gives Iran love, gets the bird

Our wheeler-dealer-in-chief president is apparently willing to allow Iran to access our banking system. That goes way "above and beyond" the requirements of the so-called nuclear deal, according to Mark Dubowitz, a top sanctions expert.

Dubowitz is the executive director of Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).  He detailed a US Treasury Department plan that permits the use of US dollars to facilitate global business transactions with Iran, describing it as a "bait and switch which ignores a long-standing administration commitment not to green-light Iran's access to the greenback. This is above and beyond what is required by the nuclear deal," Dubowitz said.

The Associated Press reports that "Several restrictions would apply, but such a license would reverse a ban that has been in place for several years and one the administration had vowed to maintain while defending last year's nuclear deal to skeptical U.S. lawmakers and the public."

In other words, if Iran wants to mess with our dollar, they might gain the ability to jury-rig the system to do so. 

Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) along with Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) documented Treasury Department assurances that it would not allow Iran any access, direct or indirect, to our banking system as part of the nuclear deal.

In their letter to Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew they wrote:

Senior officials in the Treasury Department have repeatedly assured Congress that the Administration will not allow Iran direct or indirect access to the U.S. financial system, and we believe this prohibition to be prudent in light of the Iranian regime's continued state sponsorship of terrorism, threatening ballistic missile activities, and egregious violations of human rights. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 23, 2015, you said: "Iranian banks will not be able to clear U.S. dollars through New York, hold correspondent account relationships with U.S. financial institutions, or enter into financing arrangements with U.S. banks." And in testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Union Affairs on September 17, 2015, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury Adam Szubin assured lawmakers that "no Iranian banks can access the U.S. financial system; not to open an account, not to purchase a security, and not even to execute a dollarized transaction where a split seconds worth of business is done in a New York clearing bank."

By allowing Iran to have access to our banking system in any way would severely limit the U.S. ability to impose new sanctions on Iran if and when they break the nuclear agreement, which, of course, they will. This is both Dubowitz and Annie Fixler, a policy analyst at FDD saying that.

When Obama refuses to call out Islamic terrorism for what it is, and refers to Islamic State not as ISIS but as ISIL, that should tell us where his heart lies, and it certainly isn't with Christians nor Israel.

When the national disgrace to the Navy uniform, State Department spokesman John Kirby, was questioned about the new sanctions relief during a Monday presser, he declined to answer and referred the question to the Treasury Department.

So not only is this administration the worst when it comes to making "deals," it is the worst in protecting its citizens against countries who very clearly wish "death to America."




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