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Iraq

July 4, 2026

Baghdad 11:37 am

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An aerial view shows port of the western Syrian port city of Latakia, on Dec. 18, 2024.

Analysis

Can a UAE-backed Syria-Iraq corridor become Gulf's next trade route?

On June 26, Emirati and Syrian officials discussed plans for a logistics corridor connecting Syrian ports to Gulf markets via Iraq.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

Here's what to know about Iraq's corruption as Zaidi launches crackdown

Watchdogs and financial institutions regard Iraq as a significantly corrupt country as the new prime minister works to recover public funds.

aqi security personnel patrol in a vehicle along a street in Baghdad on June 28, 2026.

Analysis

Iraqi PM’s anti-corruption drive comes as US pressure mounts on Iran-backed militias

Iraq’s new prime minister has launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign ahead of key talks in Washington, but analysts say the real test will be whether it reaches Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed actors.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Latest News

Explainer

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

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

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

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

Exclusive

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

Tom Barrack

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

Why many Iraqi Kurds keep tradition of cockfighting alive

Cockfighting in Iraq still provides many men with a nightly escape despite the efforts of animal welfare activists to ban blood sports.

Iraqi Kurdistan's Movement for Change faces rebellion from within

The Gorran movement is facing accusations of nepotism, as the two sons of the movement’s founder have gained ownership of its financial assets.

Drought forces Iraq to abandon cultivation of crops

Due to the acute shortage of irrigation water, Iraq is reducing the cultivation of large areas of land and preventing the cultivation of strategic crops that are a source of livelihood for farmers, such as rice and corn.

A general view of the mountains next to the town of Suleimaniya, some 330 km north of Iraqi capital Baghdad, January 31, 2004. North of the bombs and the chaos, the Kurdish city of Suleimaniya is worlds apart from the Iraq that dominates the headlines. Shops with bright neon signs and sharp window displays line wide, clean streets; traffic lights flash red and green; women walk unveiled through the city. At night the trees are hung with colored light bulbs, the restaurants full of diners. TO GO WITH STORY I

Fires and armed conflict take toll on Kurdish flora, fauna

The mountains of Iraq's Kurdistan region are threatened by man-made and natural wildfires that are difficult to control because of a lack of firefighting resources and manpower.

TOPSHOT - Kirkuk provincial Governor, Najm al-Din Karim (C), walks on October 22, 2016 alongside police and Kurdish security forces as he visits the damaged sites where fighting against Islamic State (IS) jihadists took place in the centre the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk.
Security forces battled for a second day with Islamic State gunmen who infiltrated Kirkuk in a brazen raid that rattled Iraq as it ramped up an offensive to retake Mosul. / AFP / Marwan IBRAHIM (Photo credit should read MARWAN

Islamic State awakens sleeper cells in Iraq's Kirkuk

The Islamic State is gradually rekindling its terrorist activities in Iraq through sleeper cells in Kirkuk province, where security is already stretched thin by political unrest.

Border calm precarious as Iraq's Anbar revives, slowly

An airstrike on militias raises tension across the border in Syria, while Qaim, Iraq, is reviving gradually after years of being under control of terrorist groups.

Mourners attend the funeral of the security men who were kidnapped and killed by Islamic State militants, in Kerbala, Iraq June 28, 2018. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani - RC18ED3C92D0

IS killings and kidnappings in central Iraq raise questions

The desert area west of Salahuddin and other depopulated areas have faced a spate of kidnappings and killings claimed by the Islamic State.

A picture taken on May 31, 2015 shows Iraqi flags fluttering in front of a tank for oil at al-Fao (also spelled al-Faw) storage terminal, located on the al-Fao Peninsula, south of the Iraqi province of Basra. AFP PHOTO / HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI (Photo credit should read HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images)

Floating oil island will handle Iraq's expected spurt in exports

Now that OPEC has approved an increase in oil production, Iraq expects to boost its exports significantly, and to accommodate that increase, South Oil Co. will develop a floating oil island.

Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who's bloc came first, looks at Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who's political bloc came third in a May parliamentary election, during a news conference in Najaf, Iraq June 23, 2018. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani - RC1D0E2C2810

Iraq may soon be without a government, as clock runs out

Baghdad is facing a political predicament, as too much has to be accomplished before parliament's term ends June 30.

Pope Francis (L) talks with Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako during a meeting with priests, seminarists, and pastoral care agents at the Church of the Assumption in Tbilisi, Georgia October 1, 2016. REUTERS/Luca Zennaro/Pool - D1BEUEMDBYAA

Vatican to appoint new Iraqi cardinal

The Vatican will inaugurate the Chaldean Patriarch of Iraq, Louis Raphael I Sako, as cardinal, which will strengthen the status of Christians in Iraq and bring them more global support.

Women's center opens its doors to formerly displaced in Iraq's Qaraqosh

In the predominantly Christian city of Qaraqosh, where almost one-third of the previous population returned after the liberation from the Islamic State, Women's House has been founded to assist and support displaced and vulnerable women.

A picture taken on March 20, 2018 shows a view of the dried-up shore of an irrigation canal near the village of Sayyed Dakhil, to the east of Nasariyah city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Baghdad. - Farmers in Sayyed Dakhil have traditionally lived off their land where there used to be no need for wells, but a creeping drought is now threatening agriculture and livelihoods in the area.
Weather patterns are largely to blame for the crisis, but while rain accounts for 30 percent of Iraq's water reso

Turkey, Iraq trade blame as concern rises over low water

Iraq points to Turkey's Ilisu Dam as the cause of its water crisis, but Ankara says Baghdad needs to manage its resources more efficiently.