By Andrea Shalal, Timour Azhari and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON/RIYADH, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Mark Savaya, named by U.S. President Donald Trump as special envoy for Iraq in October, is no longer in that role, sources familiar with the move said.
The move comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Baghdad over Washington’s push to curb Iranian influence in Iraqi politics.
Savaya, a Christian Iraqi-American entrepreneur, was among a handful of Arab Americans named to senior posts by Trump, who campaigned heavily during the 2024 presidential election to win the Arab and Muslim vote in Detroit and around the country.
It was not immediately clear what prompted Savaya’s departure or whether a replacement would be appointed.
One of the sources pointed to Savaya’s “mishandling” of key situations, including his failure to prevent the nomination of former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to be the country’s next premier, a move Trump openly warned Baghdad against.
U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, who traveled to Erbil earlier this week to meet with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, is believed to be taking over the State Department’s Iraq portfolio, according to the source and a senior Iraqi official.
A spokesperson for Barrack declined to comment.
The State Department referred queries to the White House, which declined to comment on Savaya’s status or any replacement.
Reached by Reuters on Thursday, Savaya denied any change in his role, saying that he was still working on administrative procedures required for him to officially assume the role, but a source familiar with the matter said Savaya never became an employee of the State Department.
Savaya’s X account, which was active until recently, has not been available since Thursday.
He did not respond to follow-up messages on Friday and Saturday asking him to clarify whether he was still in his appointed role and explain why his X account was taken down.
Savaya, who ran a cannabis business in Detroit and has close ties to Trump, was a surprising choice for envoy because he has no diplomatic experience. He has not traveled to Iraq officially since being named to the role, two of the sources said.
He was set to visit Iraq and hold meetings with senior officials last Friday, but abruptly canceled them, two Iraqi officials said.
The personnel move comes days after Trump warned Iraq that if it again chose Maliki as its prime minister, Washington would no longer help the major oil producer and close U.S. ally. Maliki, accused by the U.S. of stoking sectarian strife and allowing the rise of the Islamic State during his time in office, had been tapped for the role by Iraq’s largest parliamentary bloc days earlier.
Trump’s comments were the starkest example yet of his campaign to curb the influence of Iran-linked groups in Iraq, which has long walked a tightrope between its two closest allies, Washington and Tehran.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Timour Azhari in Riyadh; Editing by Sergio Non and Nia Williams)
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