Iraqi parliament elects Nizar Amedi as country's new president

Amedi is a former environmental minister and belongs to Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

The Iraqi parliament on Saturday elected Kurdish politician Nizar Amedi as the country's ​new president, a largely ceremonial role, following a parliamentary ‌election last November.

Amedi, 58, is a former environment minister and has headed the political office of the Patriotic Union of ​Kurdistan in Baghdad since 2024.

United States President Donald Trump threatened ​in January to withdraw Washington's support for Iraq, a ​major oil producer, if former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was designated to form a cabinet.

An alliance of political blocs ​holding a parliamentary majority has nominated Iran-backed Maliki, ​alarming Washington, which, along with Israel, waged a six-week war with Iran ‌until ⁠a ceasefire was announced on Tuesday.

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Senior US and Iranian officials are meeting in Islamabad in the highest-level talks between Washington and Tehran in ​half a century ​in an ⁠effort to end the war.

In Iraq, which has long trodden a tightrope ​between Iran and the US, its closest ​allies, ⁠the prime minister wields significant power.

Under Iraq's sectarian power-sharing system, the prime minister must be a Shia ⁠Muslim, ​the parliamentary speaker a Sunni ​Muslim and the president a Kurd.