ERBIL - Iraq has denied the reports claiming that US President Donald Trump had asked former PM Haider al-Abadi to compensate Washington with oil for the western country's costs of toppling the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

Ali al-Snaidi, a senior leader of the Iraqi Victory Alliance, told Baghdad Today that "such reports are baseless" asserting that Trump has not made any such requests from Iraq.

"Iraq is a sovereign state and it is not allowed for any country to impose its will on our decisions," he added, as cited by Iraqi News.

Some American media outlets reported on Monday that the US top official had discussed the matter with Abadi in March, last year.

"It was a very run-of-the-mill, low-key, meeting in general,” one source who was supposedly in the room during the conversation told reporters. “And then right at the end, Trump says something to the effect of, he gets a little smirk on his face and he says, ‘So what are we going to do about the oil?'”a source who was in the room described the talks between Trump and Abadi which were held in March, as reported by The Daily Caller.

Bas News