{"id":268476,"date":"2026-08-28T18:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T18:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/268476\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T18:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T18:12:14","slug":"ex-iraqi-finance-minister-given-women-of-courage-awarded-by-jill-biden-lands-on-us-terror-watchlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/268476\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Iraqi finance minister given ‘women of courage’ awarded by Jill Biden lands on US terror watchlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 A former Iraqi finance minister who received an \u201cInternational Women of Courage Award\u201d at an event headlined by then-first lady Jill Biden and then-Secretary of State Tony Blinken has landed on the FBI terrorist watchlist.<\/p>\n

Taif Sami Mohammed al-Shakarchi, who received the award <\/a>in March 2022, was celebrated as a \u201cfront-line leader against corrupt practices\u201d \u2014 but is now banned from entering the US as a security threat, Fox News first reported Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The IWOC Award \u201crecognizes women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, in all their diversity \u2013 often at great personal risk and sacrifice,\u201d the department noted in its 2022 release including al-Shakarchi.<\/p>\n

State Department spokesman Dylan Johnson said in a statement, \u201cWhile the Biden State Department shamefully celebrated and awarded foreigners who threaten our nation, the Trump State Department revokes their visas and ensures these individuals are removed from our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder President Trump and Secretary Rubio, suspected terrorists will never be allowed to remain in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst lady Jill Biden speaks at the 2021 International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award virtual ceremony hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington on Monday, March 8, 2021. REUTERS<\/p>\n

What al-Shakarchi allegedly did to land on the list was not mentioned in the report, though her alleged links to Iran and Iran-backed militias in Iraq previously drew headlines.<\/p>\n

Her visa also was canceled, the State Department said, and she\u2019s no longer in the US.<\/p>\n

Al-Shakarchi served as Iraq\u2019s finance minister from October 2022 until last month.<\/p>\n

The Biden State Department had previously touted her<\/a> as Iraq\u2019s \u201cIron Woman,\u201d for having \u201cbeen integral in preventing and deterring budget corruption in Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DemonstratorsSupporters of Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces hold pictures depicting Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis during a demonstration on Sunday, January 3, 2021, in Baghdad, Iraq. EPA<\/p>\n

Despite being honored for fighting corruption, the publication IraqiNews reported this month<\/a> that she had been \u201cput on a judicial wanted list as authorities broaden a corruption probe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.) last year accused al-Shakarchi <\/a>of being a \u201ckey enabler of terrorist funding in Iraq,\u201d writing in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio that many prominent Iraqis and Iraq-based banks were \u201claunder[ing] US dollars on behalf of Iran and its proxies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Department action comes the same week as the Treasury Department unveiled \u201cOperation Economic Outcast<\/a>\u201d to sever Iran\u2019s financial links with other countries to weaken Tehran\u2019s hand in peace talks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 A former Iraqi finance minister who received an \u201cInternational Women of Courage Award\u201d at an event…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[94,73475,81,1330,545,933],"class_list":["post-268476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-iraq","tag-jill-biden","tag-politics","tag-state-department","tag-terrorism","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117174491648589354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}