BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq and Turkey signed a deal Saturday to increase oil exports through a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, as Baghdad seeks to diversify its oil export routes and reduce reliance on Gulf shipping lanes.
Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair al-Abadi said in a statement that the agreement will remain in effect for one year while the two countries finalize a broader framework agreement covering cooperation in the oil, electricity and water resources sectors.
The agreement comes as Iraq moves to strengthen the resilience of its oil export infrastructure following disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.-Iran war began in February.
Al-Abadi said the deal provides for a minimum export volume of 750,000 barrels of Iraqi crude per day through the pipeline, which runs from Kirkuk in northern Iraq to Ceyhan.
The Iraq-Turkey pipeline has been largely idle since 2023 after exports from Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region were halted following legal and commercial disputes, although exports through it resumed in a limited capacity last year.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called the agreement “an important strategic milestone to ensure the uninterrupted flow of our oil exports and strengthen economic cooperation.”
Before the conflict, Iraq was exporting around 3.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in total, with most of those exports shipped through its southern terminals via the Strait of Hormuz.
The planned exports through the Turkey pipeline would represent part of that total export capacity. It would not reach prewar levels but would represent an increase from the current exports of around 200,000 barrels per day.
Iraq relies heavily on oil revenues, which account for the vast majority of government income.
The signing of the deal comes days after al-Zaidi visited Ankara for talks on security, trade, energy, transportation and water management, as well as joint infrastructure projects between the two neighbors.
One project under consideration is a pipeline that would connect southern Iraq’s Basra to western Iraq’s Haditha and from there to the Ceyhan port in Turkey and the port of Baniyas on Syria’s coast.
FILE - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks at the U.S. Iraq Business Summit at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Friday, July 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., file)
This aerial photo shows the port of Umm Qasr empty of commercial ships and cargo ships, near the city of Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ali Rahim)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday sharply criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's assessment that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claims.
Pirro’s office, in a court filing on Friday, moved to drop criminal charges against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who had been accused of deliberately damaging the pool after it underwent a renovation ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.
Trump, in a posting on social media, acknowledged that there “may have been some contractor difficulty” in the installation of a new pool liner. But he continues to insist “the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump added in his post.
The dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump's claims and billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. The president, without providing any clear new evidence, continued to allege on Saturday that the majority of the damage to the pool was caused by vandals.
Government lawyers in their 20-page court filing on Friday said that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the indictment of Hearn show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”
In addition, a recent visual inspection revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle — where prosecutors say a vandal would not likely have attempted to peel the lining.
Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a two-foot square piece of the pool’s lining.
“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro, a Trump appointee, said in her filing, which asked a judge to formally dismiss the case.
Pirro in the court filing also blamed the Interior Department for providing “less than fulsome information at the outset of the case.”
The filing added that had “DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.” It was a jarring turn in position from Pirro, who claimed the government's case was built on “tremendous evidence” when she announced the indictment against Hearn last month.
Hearn's legal team on Saturday criticized both Trump and Pirro and said it was weighing "legal remedies” on behalf of their client.
“Trump is mad at Pirro because she finally admitted what we made clear in our legal filings all along: Trump’s botched renovation was responsible for the damage — not Davey Hearn," the legal team said in a statement. “However, her claim that she and her office were previously duped by Interior is nonsense. Starting immediately after the arraignment, our motions repeatedly proved that the administration was to blame for the Reflecting Pool failures, not Davey.”
Interior Department officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump on Saturday also posted a nearly four-minute video that appears to have been taken from a security camera, in which three individuals can be seen with their hands in the pool, including one for an extended period.
The president claimed the video shows “material is being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!”
It's not clear from the video, which appears to be shot from some distance, that any vandalism occurred. Workers can also be seen standing nearby and don’t appear to notice the people sticking their hands in the water.
In May, Trump announced plans to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring. Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not respond to requests for comment.
Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted with what he called “American flag blue.”
But problems emerged within days of the project's completion, with chunks of the new liner peeling off.
Trump was quick to blame vandals. And the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which it claimed a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.
The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro listens as Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers Meeting, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP)
The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
