Iraq just refused to let Trump use its land against Iran
3 hours ago · 6 November 2026Share
President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence, participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi of the Republic Iraq in the Oval Office of the White House. File photo. The White House from Washington, DC · Public domain
Its land will not be used to launch attacks on its neighbours. Not now. Not if this war gets bigger.
Ali al-Zaidi, Iraq's Prime Minister, said it straight to Trump on the phone a day ago. His office put out a statement after. It said al-Zaidi wants respect for the sovereignty of states, and Iraqi territory not used as a launching point for attacks on neighbouring countries.
The two leaders also talked about the wider region. Security. What happens next. Al-Zaidi says the answer is diplomacy, not war.
So why does this matter so much right now?
Because the same day, Iraq's Foreign Minister went on television and said the quiet part out loud.
Fuad Hussein spoke to Dijlah TV. He said quote "pushing Iraqi society into the war will lead to a disaster". He said neither Iraqi society nor the armed forces are prepared for war.
That's Iraq's own top diplomat saying his country cannot fight this war. Not won't. Can't.
Hussein went further. He said Iraq is not part of any axis. He said Iraq does not want its own land turned into a battlefield. He said Iraq has good relations with both the US and Iran, and needs one clear policy — stay out of it.
And here's the part that should worry people. Hussein said new American strikes on Iran are not a secret. Everyone expects more are coming.
He also said Iraq has already been hit. By the US. By Iran. By armed groups inside its own borders. All since this war began.
So Iraq is getting hit from three directions in a war it says has nothing to do with it.
And there's a reason Iraq is saying all this so plainly, right now.
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A panoramic view of Baghdad, Iraq. File photo. MohammadHuzam · CC BY-SA 4.0
Money. Iraq has lost more than 60 billion dollars in oil revenue since the fighting between the US, Israel and Iran started in February. About 90 per cent of Iraq's oil usually leaves through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil is roughly 90 per cent of Iraq's whole government budget.
When Iran shut the strait, most of that income just stopped. Iran has since let Iraq pass its own oil through anyway, as an exemption.
So picture Iraq's position. It hosts American troops. It depends on Iran next door for trade. And it has been bleeding money from a war it isn't even fighting, for eight months straight.
This isn't the first time al-Zaidi has said this either. He gave Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the exact same promise in Riyadh three weeks ago.
And there's a reason he keeps having to say it. Drones that hit Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline two months ago were launched from Iraq's own Maysan governorate, according to Iraqi authorities. Baghdad never said it carried out that attack. It says it does not want it to happen again.
Ten days ago, Iraq's government spokesperson said something blunt: the constitution itself bans Iraqi territory from being used as a base or route for attacks on neighbouring states.
Al-Zaidi became Prime Minister in May. Since then he's been trying to disarm armed groups, including ones backed by Iran. Those are the same groups Gulf countries have accused of firing from Iraqi soil since the war started.
Now the timing. This call came three days after the US bombed an anti-aircraft site on Iran's Qeshm Island, right in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump told Fox News it was a minor attack, not war, aimed at something Iran had only just finished building. That strike came two days after the US midterm elections.
The White House has not put out its own account of the call. Trump's team has not responded to Iraq's conditions. Iran hasn't said anything either.
So what don't we know? Whether Trump plans to use Iraqi land or airspace if he orders new strikes. And whether al-Zaidi can actually stop armed groups inside his own country from acting for Iran, whatever Baghdad says.
Iraq has now told both Washington and Riyadh, within three weeks of each other, that it wants out of this war completely.
Whether that holds depends on people al-Zaidi doesn't fully control.
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