ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Friday held a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump, congratulating him on his election victory, and expressing desire for stronger Baghdad-Washington relations.

Sudani and Trump both expressed commitment to advance the strategic partnership between Iraq and the US, and stressed the need to boost bilateral ties “beyond security concerns with a focus on cooperation in the fields of economy, finance, energy, and technology,” according to a statement from the Iraqi premier’s office.

Th US president-elect “expressed his desire to work positively with the Prime Minister [Sudani] and looked forward to meeting soon to discuss strengthening Iraq-US relations and advancing their shared priorities,” the statement added.

Trump secured a historic return to the White House on Wednesday after besting his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the US presidential elections.

The impact of Trump’s reelection on Baghdad-Washington relations has been a hot topic of discussion in Iraq in recent days.

Iraq and the US in September announced they had reached an agreement to wrap up the American-led coalition’s military presence in the country by “no later than the end of September 2025” and transition to bilateral security partnerships “in a manner that supports Iraqi forces and maintains pressure on ISIS [the Islamic State].”

During his previous term between 2017 to 2021, Trump said that they wanted to withdraw from Iraq “at some point” but stressed that it was not the right time after Iran launched an operation against US interests in Iraq in January 2020 following the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and PMF deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a Trump-ordered American strike in Baghdad.

In the phone call, Sudani reminded Trump of statements and promises he made during his campaign to “work towards ending wars in the region,” and the two agreed to coordinate efforts toward achieving this goal, according to the statement.

Throughout his campaign, Trump had vowed to end the conflicts in the Middle East, but at the same time he also repeatedly called on Israel to “finish the job,” and accused President Joe Biden of holding back Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his first term, Trump was a strong supporter of Israel and adopted several measures that harmed the Palestinian people, including cutting American funds to the UN Palestinian aid agency (UNRWA), recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and helping in the normalization of ties between Israel and four Arab countries.