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FIRST ON FOX: Four years ago, Taif Sami Mohammed was being celebrated by the United States as one of the world’s most courageous women. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the senior Iraqi official as the country’s “Iron Woman,” crediting her with stopping bribes, uncovering schemes that enriched corrupt officials and fighting corruption despite threats against her.
Today, Mohammed is believed to be outside Iraq on the U.S. terrorist watchlist and can no longer enter the United States.
A State Department official told Fox News Digital the department revoked Mohammed’s visa this week, marking a dramatic reversal for an official who received one of the Biden administration’s highest-profile awards for women in 2022.
“While 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,” Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson told Fox News Digital.
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“Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio, suspected terrorists will never be allowed to remain in the United States.”
The State Department did not immediately provide details about when Mohammed was placed on the terrorist watchlist or the intelligence that led to that determination.
Mohammed’s fall from Washington’s favor had been building publicly for more than a year.
Republican lawmakers previously accused her of helping facilitate terrorist financing through Iraq’s financial system and urged the Trump administration to take action against her. Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Greg Steube, R-Fla., called Mohammed a “key enabler of terrorist funding in Iraq” and pushed the administration to impose sanctions.
Those allegations stand in stark contrast to how the Biden administration described Mohammed when it selected her for the State Department’s International Women of Courage Award in 2022.
At the time, Mohammed was Iraq’s deputy finance minister and director general of its budget department. The State Department described her as a “frontline leader against corrupt practices” who had been integral to preventing corruption in Iraq’s budget.
Blinken went further during the March 2022 awards ceremony, saying Mohammed had “stopped bribes” and uncovered efforts to inflate government payrolls and enrich corrupt officials.
The ceremony, hosted by Blinken and featuring remarks from then-first lady Jill Biden, honored 12 women the State Department said had shown extraordinary courage and leadership.
Mohammed later rose to become Iraq’s finance minister, overseeing the federal budget, government spending and Baghdad’s financial relationship with Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Her troubles have since spread beyond Washington.
An Iraqi court summoned Mohammed and placed her on a judicial wanted list as authorities widened a corruption investigation into former senior government officials, IraqiNews reported Aug. 9, 2025, citing sources familiar with the proceedings.
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According to the report, Mohammed is believed to be outside Iraq and has not been detained. The court action is part of an investigation and does not establish that she committed wrongdoing.
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The investigation grew out of a broader corruption probe involving government contracts and large sums of public money and has reached other former Iraqi officials, according to the report.
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Mohammed’s placement on the U.S. terrorist watchlist represents a separate and potentially more serious development. The State Department has not said whether it is connected to the terrorist financing allegations raised by members of Congress, the Iraqi corruption investigation or other intelligence gathered by the U.S. government.
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