US President Donald Trump met with the President of the Kurdistan region of Iraq Nechirvan Barzani on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, on Wednesday.

“As you know we left Syria from the standpoint of the border and that’s worked out great with Turkey, and it’s worked out far better than anybody ever thought possible. They have the so-called safe zone,” said Trump, before thanking Barzani for everything he has done “to keep it as safe as possible.”

“But very importantly, as you know, we have the oil. And we left soldiers for the oil, because we take the oil and we’re working on that, and we have it very nicely secured,” added Trump.

Barzani said “we defeated ISIS [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL], together, and on behalf of people in Kurdistan I would like to express our thanks and gratitude for your leadership and your support.”

Trump was asked whether Washington has a containment plan for the new coronavirus, following the first reported case in US territory.

“We do have a plan and we think it’s going to be handled very well. We’ve already handled it very well,” he replied.

An outbreak of a respiratory illness caused by a newly emerging coronavirus – also known as 2019-nCoV – was reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, with the virus subsequently being diagnosed in Beijing, Shanghai, and outside of China.

Credit: Ruptly