Rubio tells Iraqi PM government controlled by Iran can’t put Baghdad’s interests first

By Reuters 26 January 2026, 2:37 am

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Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign event for the Reconstruction and Development Coalition list ahead of the parliamentary elections, in the central city of Najaf on November 2, 2025. (Qassem al-KAABI / AFP)

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, in which the two discuss the transfer and detention of Islamic State members in Iraqi facilities and Iraq’s ties with Iran, according to the State Department.

“(They) discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to ensure countries rapidly repatriate their citizens in Iraq, bringing them to justice,” the State Department says in a statement.

Rubio also “emphasized that a government (in Iraq) controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts, or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq,” it says.