BAGHDAD (AP) — Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed defiance Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw Washington’s support for Iraq if he returns to power.

Al-Maliki, who was nominated last week by the country’s dominant political bloc to return to the premiership, said in a statement: “We reject the blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and consider it a violation of its sovereignty."

Trump in a social media post Tuesday wrote, “Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos,” adding, “Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq and, if we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.”

Washington has been pushing Iraq to distance itself from Iran and sees al-Maliki as too close to Tehran. His last term, which ended in 2014, also saw the rise of the Islamic State group, which seized large swaths of the country.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s list of candidates won the largest share of seats in November’s parliamentary elections. But he stepped aside earlier this month, clearing the field for al-Maliki after the two competed for the backing of the Coordination Framework, a collection of Shiite parties that is the largest parliamentary bloc.

The framework named al-Maliki as its nominee last week. A parliament session was set to take place Tuesday to elect a president, who in turn would appoint the prime minister, but the session was canceled due to a lack of quorum, with no alternate date set.

Al-Maliki said he would continue to stand for the premiership “out of respect for the national will and the Coordination Framework’s decision.”

Before Trump's statement, members of the Coordination Framework had received a written message from U.S. Charge d'Affaires Joshua Harris saying that “we recall the period of previous governments headed by Prime Minister Maliki negatively in Washington." Two members of the Coordination Framework confirmed to The Associated Press having received the message, a copy of which was circulated widely on social media.

“The selection of the prime minister-designate and other leadership positions is a sovereign Iraqi decision, and likewise, the United States will make its sovereign decisions regarding the next government in accordance with U.S. interests,” the message said.

A U.S. embassy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s intervention into Iraqi politics came as he weighs carrying out new strikes on Iraq’s neighbor Iran. It also comes as the U.S. has started transferring Islamic State group militants from detention sites in Syria to ones in Iraq.

Al-Sudani came to power with the backing of the Coordination Framework in 2022 but during his first term managed to balance relations with Iran and the U.S. and restrained pro-Iran militias from intervening in support of Iran during last year’s 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Some of those militias have voiced their support for al-Maliki.

Abu Alaa al-Walae, commander of the Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia, called Trump’s statement “blatant interference in Iraqi affairs,"adding that “the criminal Trump, who physically assassinated the leaders of victory now wants to repeat the act by politically assassinating” al-Maliki.

During his first term, Trump ordered a drone strike that killed powerful Iranian military leader Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group composed of an array of militias, including Iran-backed groups, formed to fight the Islamic State group.

Tamer Badawi, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London specializing in Iraq, said that al-Sudani may well have anticipated the pushback against al-Maliki’s nomination and stepped aside as a political maneuver. That allows al-Maliki to “temporarily steal the spotlight," while the rival candidate's “path to office narrows under the weight of his domestic opponents and even sharper hostility from the Trump camp,” he said.

“Iraq cannot afford the economic consequences of Donald Trump delivering upon his threats,” he said. Those could include imposing sanctions and restricting Iraq’s access to its own supply of U.S. dollars - Iraq’s foreign currency reserves have been housed at the United States’ Federal Reserve.

But that “does not automatically mean the race is now decided in Sudani’s favor,” Badawi said. “A third candidate emerging as a compromise pick remains one of the plausible outcomes.”