Iraqi PM’s anti-corruption drive comes as US pressure mounts on Iran-backed militias
Iraq’s new prime minister has launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign ahead of key talks in Washington, but analysts say the real test will be whether it reaches Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed actors.
Vowing to fight corruption and recover stolen public funds, Iraq's new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, has launched one of the biggest crackdowns in Iraq's recent history, marked by a wave of arrests of Iraqi officials.
In remarks published on Monday following a cabinet session held the night before, Zaidi called the move “a first phase,” noting that the government was “tasked with protecting the interests of the Iraqi people.” There would be “no leniency,” Zaidi added.
Some 47 people were detained in multiple raids by the country’s elite Counter Terrorism Service Units inside Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone. The detainees are suspected of extorting public funds and committing other crimes, according to Iraq’s state news agency, INA. They include lawmakers and officials, the agency said. Further arrests are widely expected. Government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi, however, put the figure at 21, with other suspects still being pursued, other Iraqi outlets reported.
Zaidi is due to travel to Washington in mid-July for a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, the prime minister and Special Presidential Envoy Tom Barrack announced in a joint statement earlier this month. The moves are likely aimed partly at building goodwill ahead of the visit, amid heavy pressure from the United States to dismantle and disarm Iran-backed militias deeply enmeshed in the country's corruption networks.
