The Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at the School of International Service is pleased to invite you to a fireside chat with His Excellency Nizar Al-Khairallah, Iraqi Ambassador to the United States, for an insightful discussion on the evolving relationship between Iraq and the United States. Moderated by Yerevan Saeed, Barzani Scholar In-Residence and Director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at the School of International Service, American University, this conversation will examine the political, security, and economic challenges shaping Iraq’s trajectory and its strategic engagement with Washington.

As Iraq navigates a complex regional and international landscape, this discussion will also explore the implications of the new U.S. administration’s reimposition of maximum pressure on Iran and its potential impact on Baghdad-Washington relations.

Join us for this thought-provoking conversation with a distinguished diplomat to gain valuable insights into the future of bilateral relations, Iraq’s foreign policy, and its path forward. We look forward to your participation in this important conversation!

Food will be provided at the end of the event.

Bios:

Nizar Al-Khairallah, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Iraq to the United States of America, a posting assumed in June 2023. He has previously served as Senior Deputy Foreign Minister for Bilateral Relations, and prior to his posting in Washington, he served as Iraq’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Netherlands and Permanent Representative of Iraq to OPCW.

His Diplomatic posting includes Iraq’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Iraq’s Ambassador to France. He represented Iraq at the ministerial meetings of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and he was a member of the National Security Council at the undersecretary level headed by the National Security Adviser.

Ambassador Al-Khairallah was educated in the UK and Iraq, and holds an MA degree in Politics of International Resources and Development from Leeds University, Department of Politics, and other degrees and certificates in Politics and Art Studies.

Ambassador Al-Khairallah was the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the visit of His Holiness Pope Frances to Iraq and the committee for the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership for neighboring and some regional countries in 2021, and the official spokesman for the conference; the Chairman of the Higher Committee for negotiating the refugee issue with the European Union, and Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Committee of negotiation of the Strategic Framework Agreement between Iraq and the United States. He heads the higher committees for negotiations with the neighboring countries; Iran, Turkey, and Kuwait (Gulf Cooperation Council). He chaired the Higher Committee for Negotiation with the Neighboring Countries on Water and was a negotiator who ran many negotiation rounds with different countries.

Yerevan Saeed (moderator) is the Barzani Scholar in Residence at American University’s School of International Service and a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington He is a TEDx speaker and former lecturer at the University of Kurdistan Hewler. Saeed previously was a visiting scholar and research associate at AGSIW. Saeed is a political analyst who researches and writes on security, political, and energy issues in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq, Turkey, Iran, the Gulf, and the Levant. He has served as White House correspondent for the Kurdish Rudaw TV, and his work has been published in the Washington Institute’s Fikra Forum, the Diplomatic Courier, The New York Times, the London-based Majalla magazine, Rudaw, Global Politician, and several Kurdish newspapers. In addition, he has been interviewed by Voice of America, NPR, CNN, Voice of Russia, and Kurdish television programs and newspapers. From 2009-13, Saeed worked with Stratfor; additionally, he worked for several media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, BBC, and The Guardian, as a journalist and translator in Iraq from 2003-07.

Co-Sponsored by the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace and the School of International Service.

Ambassadors Up-Close: Iraq-US Relations with Ambassador Al-Khairallah