Dubai, UAE, January 28, 2018:  As part of CNN’s coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Becky Anderson spoke with Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi. They discussed the rising tensions in Syria and Iraq’s relationship with President Trump and the United States.

On Syria:

“They are training would be suicide bombers, very high skilled training. They want to send them to many countries; many cities and they want to have a campaign of terror attacks.”

On Iran’s influence on Iraq:

“Is any country immune from influence from abroad?... “Zero I would say zero, I have to be frank.”

On whether he agrees that Iran is a dark force in the region:

“No, I don’t. Every force in the region has a dark and a white side to it.”

On whether Donald Trump is good for Iraq:

“It’s very hard for us to judge US presidents, I have my own observations”

“Every president he looks at the interest of the US as he sees it. I think in the moment or at this time our interests have met to fight terrorism and that was very good, I like that.”

“There are pockets of Daesh- I do not understand why it has not been eliminated in Syria, they are still there. I don’t know what the coalition is waiting for. I don’t know what the Russians are Waiting for. There are pockets of Daesh inside Syria. They have a safe haven still there. Our intelligence tells us because we have very accurate intelligence. They are training would be suicide bombers, very high skilled training. They want to send them to many countries; many cities and they want to have a campaign of terror attacks.”

Who are they being supported by?

“It’s not clear to us, they’ve just been left over in large areas within probably the area controlled by the Kurdish group and the Syrian Government group.”

Who helped you win the war against ISIS was it American bombs of Iranian Militia?

“I have to admit the cover support, the air support of the international coalition, led by the US, and of course the support given to us by the regional powers including of course the Iranians and other regional powers has enabled us to make this victory clean and fast.”

Many people are concerned by the Iranian influence in Iraq- what do you say to that?

“Is any country immune from influence from abroad?”

How can he insure corruption won’t be an issue with tackling the countries debt?

“We are running things from the top I establish a very high committee which is headed by myself as Prime Minister to direct investment. Most of it we don’t want donations, it’s almost impossible to get $100m in donations, we are looking for investment and there is a large scope for investment in Iraq. It’s much safer than before and Iraq is receptive to investment.”

Saudi Arabia is concerned, Tehran has too much influence in Baghdad. How much influence do they have?

“Zero I would say zero, I have to be frank.”

“In every quarter including Iraq there are people supporting Iran there are people supporting Saudi Arabia, people who are supporting the US and the West but Iraqi Nationality should come first and by this we have decided that we should take our own decision to decide what is best for Iraq and I think we have gone a long way to do this.”

Do you support Riyadh saying that Iran is a dark force in the region?

“No, I don’t. Every force in the region has a dark and a white side to it.”

When asked if that includes Riyadh:

“Including Iraq- we have to strengthen the white side of every country and work on this. Our strategy is this, if the region continues by this polarisation and by having flames everywhere, these will be producing cracks, through these cracks terrorism will come through as happened in Syria as happened with Daesh and we have been subjected to these criminal activities of these criminal organisations we have to make sure we avoid these cracks in the region and look at the positive sides of each other, I’m very confident we can do that.”

Is Donald Trump good for Iraq?

“It’s very hard for us to judge US presidents, I have my own observations…”

Which are?

“Every president he looks at the interest of the US as he sees it. I think in the moment or at this time our interests have met to fight terrorism and that was very good, I like that.”

When he talks about America first, you say what?

“When he was talking about America first it means American security, it means Iraqi security cause terrorism threatens America, threatens Iraq and that’s why we have received a lot of support this period to fight terrorism. This is good for Iraq, good for the rest of the world I think.”