Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday he would press ahead with his bid to form a new government, rejecting a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump as “blatant interference” in Iraq’s internal affairs.

In a post on social media platform X, Maliki said he “categorically rejects blatant U.S. interference in Iraq’s domestic affairs,” calling it a violation of the country’s sovereignty and a breach of Iraq’s democratic system established after 2003.

He added that the warning amounted to an infringement on the decision of the Coordination Framework, a Shi’ite political alliance, to choose its candidate for prime minister.

Maliki said dialogue between states should be the only political option, rather than “the language of diktats and threats.”

There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials.