ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A US government official on Wednesday suggested Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani be removed from his post if he does not ensure the immediate return of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher who was kidnapped in Iraq around two years ago.

In July 2023, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iraq’s Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah of kidnapping Tsurkov, a PhD candidate at Princeton University who had allegedly entered Iraq for research purposes using her Russian passport months prior. The group denied involvement.

In response, the Iraqi government announced it was conducting an official investigation into the case.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Emma Tsurkov, the kidnapped researcher’s sister, blamed Sudani’s “incompetence and inaction,” and the Joe Biden administration for failing to bring her sister home, nearly two years after her kidnapping.

“The Biden administration kept showering the corrupt Iraqi officials with hundreds of millions of our taxpayer dollars with no accountability,” wrote Emma, noting that US President Donald Trump is “done playing games.”

“Mr. President, only you can bring my sister home!” she added.

Adam Boehler, Trump’s Envoy for Hostages, responded to the sister’s post, accusing Sudani of “consistently” making false promises to release Tsurkov.

“If [Tsurkov] does not come home NOW than [sic] [Sudani] is either incapable and should be FiRED or worse COMPLICIT,” wrote Boehler.

In November 2023, media affiliated with Iraq’s Iran-backed armed factions released a video of Tsurkov in custody, where she admits to have been employed by the Israeli intelligence (Mossad) and the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to aggravate intra-Shiite conflicts in Iraq through devising the student-led Tishreen protest movement in 2019.

During an event in Washington in April 2024, attended by Sudani, Emma berated the Iraqi premier for not securing the release of her sister. Sudani responded by saying that the government has an investigative team working on pinpointing her location.

Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for American news outlet Axios, said in a post on X in late January that Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein had told him Tsurkov is “alive” and that Sudani is working on her release.

Iraq maintains a hardline stance against Israel. The country’s Law of Criminalizing the Normalization with the Zionist Entity prohibits officials and media personnel from engaging with Israel in any capacity, making it punishable by death.