Analysis | Warning over US Plans to dominate Iraq’s resources

Pars Today – Zuhair al-Jalabi, a member of Iraq’s Shia Coordination Framework, has warned about US plans to seize the country’s wealth and resources, stressing that Washington continues to exert direct control and influence over Iraq’s political, economic and even security decisions.

Al-Jalabi’s remarks have once again brought the issue of Iraq’s national sovereignty and the limits of Washington’s interference in Baghdad’s decision-making to the forefront. Iraq’s importance to the United States is not limited to its oil resources. Iraq lies at the heart of West Asia and shares borders with Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. This geographical position, along with its energy potential and large consumer market, gives Iraq a significant role in the region’s security and economic equations and creates opportunities for US interference in the country’s internal affairs.

US intervention in Iraq is not limited to a military presence, security cooperation or diplomatic relations. Financial and economic mechanisms have also become one of Washington’s main instruments of influence. From this perspective, warnings about Iraq’s resources should be examined in the context of a broader dispute over economic independence, the government’s authority to manage oil revenues and the country’s foreign policy direction. With vast oil and gas reserves, Iraq remains heavily dependent on oil revenues.

In addition to providing the bulk of government revenue, oil is a key source of funding for Iraq’s national budget, the payment of public-sector salaries and the implementation of economic and development programmes. Following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the mechanisms for managing the country’s oil revenues underwent changes. A Reuters report published on September 30, 2026, shows that Iraq’s oil revenues are still held under financial arrangements with the US Federal Reserve. This gives Washington considerable leverage to interfere in Iraq’s affairs and affects the country’s economic independence.

Furthermore, US policy toward Iraq cannot be examined separately from Washington’s broader objectives in West Asia. In other words, another dimension of US influence lies in Washington’s efforts to steer Iraq’s foreign and security policies amid regional rivalries. Because Iraq borders Iran, maintains extensive economic, social and political ties with the country, and is home to resistance groups, it holds a special place in US strategic calculations. Washington’s policy toward Baghdad therefore extends beyond bilateral cooperation and is also linked to US objectives against Iran and the Axis of Resistance, as well as its support for the Israeli regime.

During his second term, Donald Trump has pursued a war-oriented policy against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Axis of Resistance while supporting the Israeli regime’s crimes. In this context, the Trump administration has put pressure on Iraq because of its extensive economic, political and security ties with Iran. From this perspective, al-Jalabi’s warning about US efforts to dominate Iraq’s resources reflects concerns among some Iraqi political groups that Washington is seeking to establish a form of strategic dependency and influence Iraq’s foreign policy decisions. Iraqi political groups stress that the country must not become a platform for implementing confrontational US policies against its neighbours.

Overall, the main issue in Iraq is not simply whether US forces are present in the country, but how much freedom Baghdad has to manage its financial resources, set its security priorities and choose its regional partners. As long as Iraq’s economic dependencies allow financial pressure to be used as political leverage, the country’s sovereignty remains under threat. From this perspective, al-Jalabi’s warning can be seen as reflecting concerns among some Iraqi political forces that financial dependence could become a tool for restricting the country’s foreign policy independence or even enabling the United States to dominate foreign policy decision-making in Baghdad. This issue has also drawn widespread public opposition in Iraq, with Iraqis stressing the need for their country to remain independent of the United States in both domestic and foreign policy.