ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – US President Donald Trump on Sunday appointed Tom Barrack as Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq, alongside renewing his role as Special Presidential Envoy to Syria and retaining his post as US ambassador to Turkey, days after Barrack's previous Syria envoy mandate expired.

In a statement, Trump said that Barrack “will be named Special Presidential Envoy to Syria and, likewise, Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq,” in part of strategic cooperation with the governments of both countries.

“Tom will remain Ambassador to [Turkey],” he added, hailing Barrack’s service and his “continued willingness” to serve the US.

The announcement comes a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Barrack’s tenure as Special Envoy to Syria officially ended on Friday, noting that he will "continue to play a leading role" in both Iraq and Syria.

The businessman-turned-diplomat also assumed the Iraq portfolio, though without an official title, after Mark Savaya's short-lived tenure as Special Envoy to Iraq fizzled out for unknown reasons.

"Ambassador Tom Barrack has been and remains a central interlocutor on Syria, and key trusted hand on Iraq," Rubio wrote in a separate post on social media the day after. "He will continue to play a vital role, not only as our Ambassador to the Republic of [Turkey], but also as we advance the President's strategic cooperation with the government in Syria and begin our work with the new government in Iraq."

Having recently secured parliamentary approval, the new government of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has voiced its keenness to cooperate with the US across multiple domains, with Zaidi's program for government stressing the need to restrict weapons to the state, a demand long pushed for by Washington.

The premier met with Charge d'Affaires at the US embassy in Baghdad Joshua Harris on Sunday, emphasizing the importance of continued joint work "within the framework of the Strategic Framework Agreement and bilateral memoranda of understanding."

Appointed to the role of special envoy for Syria in May 2025, Barrack emerged as Washington's man on the ground when it came to managing the country's transition under the new leadership of President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Barrack's tenure as envoy saw him intimately involved in efforts to lift US sanctions on Syria imposed during the era of Bashar al-Assad, securing economic breathing room for the new administration and helping to orchestrate Sharaa's visit to the White House that boosted the new Damascus government's perceived international legitimacy.

He also emerged as a key actor in mediating a ceasefire and integration deal between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after the former's military incursion into Rojava (northeast Syria) in January 2026, repeatedly meeting with leading figures from the respective sides and working in conjunction with Kurdistan Region authorities to secure a peace accord.

However, the billionaire real estate investor has enjoyed his fair share of controversy in the post. He has been criticized by both Kurds and Israelis for his perceived alignment with Ankara's foreign policy objectives, and his assertion that "benevolent monarchy" works better in the Middle East than democracy sparked polemic.

Barrack, who is himself of Lebanese descent, also caused a stir in his ancestral country after he called Lebanese journalists attending a press conference "animalistic" and urged them to be "civilized."