Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s State Department revoked the visa of a former Iraqi finance minister after she was placed on the FBI’s Terror Watchlist, completing a remarkable reversal from the honors she received under former President Joe Biden. Taif Sami Mohammed Al Shakarchi received the State Department’s International Women of Courage Award in 2022. Four years later, she can no longer enter the United States on that visa. The State Department confirmed that she is no longer inside the country.
Al Shakarchi was serving as Iraq’s deputy finance minister and director general of its Budget Department when the Biden administration selected her for the award. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted the virtual ceremony, while then-First Lady Jill Biden delivered remarks honoring the recipients. Al Shakarchi later became Iraq’s finance minister, giving her authority over the federal budget, government spending, and Baghdad’s financial relationship with the Kurdistan Region.
Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson announced Friday that Al Shakarchi’s visa had been revoked following her placement on the FBI watchlist. The department did not reveal when she was placed on the watchlist or disclose the intelligence behind that determination. The department’s statement also did not announce criminal charges against her in connection with the designation.
As Fox News first reported, the visa decision came after more than a year of public scrutiny surrounding Al Shakarchi. Republican Reps. Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Greg Steube of Florida had accused the former Iraqi official of helping facilitate terrorist financing through Iraq’s banking system. The lawmakers called her a “key enabler of terrorist funding in Iraq” and urged the Trump administration to sanction her.
Those allegations presented a stark contrast with the glowing description issued by the Biden State Department in 2022. In its archived award announcement, the department called Al Shakarchi a “front-line leader against corrupt practices” and credited her with preventing corruption involving Iraq’s national budget. She was also promoted as Iraq’s “Iron Woman.”
Al Shakarchi had spent approximately 36 years working inside Iraq’s Ministry of Finance by the time she received the award. She began as a budget analyst in 1985, rose to deputy director general, and became director general of the Budget Department in 2005. She assumed the position of deputy finance minister in 2019 and became Iraq’s finance minister later in 2022.
During the award ceremony, Blinken credited Al Shakarchi with stopping bribes, uncovering schemes to inflate payrolls and enrich corrupt officials, and redirecting significant resources to programs serving the Iraqi people. The International Women of Courage Award is presented to women whom the State Department believes have demonstrated exceptional leadership while advancing causes including peace, justice, human rights, and the empowerment of women. Twelve recipients were honored during the 2022 ceremony.
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Al Shakarchi has since faced separate legal trouble in Iraq. IraqiNews reported on August 9, 2026, citing sources, that an Iraqi court had formally summoned the former finance minister and placed her on a judicial wanted list as authorities expanded a corruption investigation involving senior government figures. She was believed to be outside Iraq and had not been detained.
The State Department has not said whether the FBI watchlist designation is connected to the terrorist-financing accusations raised by Wilson and Steube, the Iraqi corruption investigation, or other intelligence collected by the United States. Johnson said the Biden administration had honored foreigners who threatened the country while the Trump administration was revoking their visas. He concluded, “Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio, suspected terrorists will never be allowed to remain in the United States.”