BARACK OBAMA HURT MOST: Iran Could Lose Iraq.

Iraq’s politicians also seem more eager than usual to appease the United States. Iraq’s government is led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and his Coordination Framework, a coalition closely allied with Iran. But Sudani’s team made three compromises with U.S. officials in late January: removing an arrest warrant on U.S. President Donald Trump for ordering the killing of terrorists in Baghdad during his last administration; agreeing to release the Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who has been held hostage by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia; and passing a vital budget amendment that has long been sought by Iraq’s Kurds, the segment of Iraqi society that has the closest ties to Trump. These compromises indicate that Iran’s allies in Iraq are feeling vulnerable.

Washington should take advantage of this moment to permanently reduce the level of Iranian control in Iraq. It should do so not through wide-scale military action but with tough diplomacy, the threat of sanctions, and intelligence operations. Such measures would deprive Iran of a vital source of funding and give the United States leverage in any negotiations with the regime’s leaders. Most important, it would lead to better governance for Iraqis, who have suffered for too long under Iran’s thumb.

Stay tuned — and keep an eye on Marco Rubio.