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Iraq

June 28, 2026

Baghdad 12:56 am

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A worker at a market for fuel oil and automotive fuel on March 17, 2026, in Erbil, Iraq.

Explainer

After UAE and Qatar, could Iraq be next to leave OPEC?

Iraq is seeking a higher production quota as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has slashed oil revenues and plunged the country into a fiscal crisis.

Krikor Der-Hagopian at the 9th Sulaimani Forum, in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, on April 16, 2025.

Iraq taps Krikor Der-Hagopian as first Armenian Christian ambassador to US

Baghdad’s pick of a US-educated Armenian Christian adviser as envoy to Washington underscores a bid to reset US-Iraq ties and broaden the country’s diplomatic profile.

Tom Barrack

Exclusive

Barrack heads to Iraq as US presses Baghdad on Iran-backed militias

US envoy Tom Barrack is due to meet with Iraq’s new prime minister and other top officials in Baghdad, where he will likely press US demands for Iran-backed Shiite militias be dismantled and disarmed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Culture

World Cup opens amid visa disputes for Iran, Iraq and Somalia

Members of the Iranian national soccer team including midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh (R) arrive at Tijuana International Airport on June 7, 2026, in Tijuana, Mexico.

Syria says Iraqi oil shipments surge as Damascus courts foreign energy investment

A long convoys of Iraqi diesel-laden tanker trucks line up along the highway Tartus-Baniyas highway as they wait to unload their cargo at the Baniyas port refinery on the Mediterranean Sea, on April 15, 2026.

Israel-Iran escalation grounds flights across parts of Middle East

An Airbus A321 airliner arrives at the Mehrabad international airport during the delivery of the first batch of planes to the Iranian state airline Iran Air in the capital Tehran on Jaunary 12, 2017. - The aircraft arrived as part of an order for 100 other Airbus planes with a list price of around $20 billion (19 billion euros) on December 22, placed after the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic republic. It will be used for internal flights landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport. (Photo by ATTA

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

Winthrop Rodgers

In Sulaymaniyah, reporting on Kurdish issues

A F-16 jet fighter of Royal Dutch Air Force lands on the runway of Volkel air base, southern Netherlands, on January 2, 2019. - The Dutch Air Force took part in the Air Task Force Middle East mission to fight against ISIS in Iraq and Eastern Syria. (Photo by Remko de Waal / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo credit should read REMKO DE WAAL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Netherlands to send new troops to Iraq as coalition shifts to advisory role

The Dutch now take the helm of a training mission that focuses on "expert specialized capabilities."

An Iraqi woman stands at passport control as she waits to have her passport stamped at the Arar southern Iraqi border crossing with Saudi Arabia on November 11, 2009. A group of Iraqi Shiite Muslim pilgrims left their homes in the city of Karbala to join an overland tour that will taken them to the Saudi holy city of Mecca where they will take part in the annual Hajj or pilgrimages. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED SAWAF (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq-Saudi border crossing reopens after 30 years

The Arar crossing has remained closed since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Iraq increases deficit to pay salaries

The Iraqi parliament voted on the funding deficit law so that it can borrow to pay salaries that have been in arrears for more than two months.

Rockets fall in Baghdad after Pentagon announces Iraq troop reduction

One child was killed and at least five other people were injured, the Iraqi military said.

US to reduce troops in Iraq but not Syria, official says

US national security officials say Trump's order to end wars will not halt the Pentagon's counterterror operations abroad.

Iraqi KRG checkpoints part of crackdown on PKK

Turkish attacks on the PKK in Iraq's Kurdistan Region have forced the KRG to increase checkpoints and security.

US Vice President Joe Biden meets with General Lloyd Austin, the commander of United States Forces - Iraq (USF-I), and US ambassador in Iraq James Jeffrey at the US embassy upon the former's arrival at Baghdad on a surprise visit on November 29, 2011, during which he is due to meet top Iraqi officials, as American troops depart Iraq ahead of a year-end deadline. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden unlikely to turn back in Iraq

Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says Biden knows Iraq "as well or better than just about anyone."

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 22: James Jeffrey, State Department special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, waits for the beginning of a hearing before Senate Foreign Relations Committee October 22, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee held a hearing on "Assessing the Impact of Turkey's Offensive in Northeast Syria." (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

US threat to shutter Baghdad embassy 'ongoing,' says Syria envoy

Outgoing US Syria envoy James Jeffrey says the State Department's threats to close the US Embassy in Iraq is "very serious."

A man counts a pile of US Dollar bank notes in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on May 4, 2020, during the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. - With its financial outlook darkening by the day, Iraq is considering slashing its massive public payroll -- an unpopular move likely to renew protests.
OPEC's second-largest producer has been hit hard by the double-whammy of collapsed crude prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have hacked at its revenues from oil sales. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD A

International financial alliance forms to help Iraq

Several countries are forming an economic alliance to help Iraq in its financial crisis.

France signs financing agreement with UN to support Iraqi elections

The UN-France deal supports Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission ahead of early elections slated for next summer.

An Iraqi woman farmer harvests tomatoes in Diwaniyah, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, on April 2, 2018. - Iraqi farmers have traditionally lived off their land with no need for wells, but a creeping drought is now threatening agriculture and the livelihoods of nearly a quarter of the country's population in the southern agricultural provinces of Diwaniyah, Muthanna and Missan. (Photo by Haidar HAMDANI / AFP) (Photo credit should read HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq, Saudi Arabia agree to boost ties

A high-level Saudi delegation visited Baghdad to sign several economic and investment agreements in order to create a balance between Iraq's neighboring countries.

Iraqi officials welcome Biden presidency

While Iraqi leaders and officials have welcomed a Biden presidency, there are worries about what direction US policy will take when it comes to Baghdad.