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Iraq

June 29, 2026

Baghdad 11:58 pm

35°C

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

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.

Latest News

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

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.

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

TOPSHOT - Iraqi demonstrators gather amid smoke after fire services extinguished fire on tires during a protest near the governor's residence in the southern city of Basra, to oppose assassinations and demand the resignation of top security officials in the southern Iraqi governorate, on August 17, 2020. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP) (Photo by HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Murder of another Iraqi activist sparks new wave of demonstrations

The death of a woman activist follows a string of recent assassinations and kidnappings and has reignited mass protests in Iraq demanding an end to violence and corruption.

Trump, Kadhimi launch new chapter in US-Iraq relations

US offers Iraqi prime minister aid, energy deals and continued cooperation against Islamic State.

Activists continue to be killed in Basra

The killing of an Iraqi activist in Bara took place even as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi was visiting Washington; it was just the latest in a series of violent attacks against protesters and others in the southern city.

President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC on August 20th, 2020.

Trump, Kadhimi discuss new phase in US-Iraq strategic relationship

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's visit to Washington led to new energy deals and continued security cooperation.

General Electric signs deal with Iraq's Electricity Ministry

The US industrial giant's announcement came before Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited the White House.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (L) speaks during a press conference with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo at the State Department in Washington, DC on August 19, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Iraq to ink oil deal with Chevron, foreign minister says

The Iraqi government will sign an agreement with American oil company Chevron, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said during his visit to Washington on Wednesday.

An Iraqi man, wearing a protective mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stands at the entrance of a money exchange office in Sulaimaniyah city in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq on August 4, 2020. - In Iraq's Kurdistan and holy Shiite sites, trading US dollars for rials from Iran was once big business with millions of pilgrims and for businessmen coming to visit. But the money exchange business has been hard hit by lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Shwan MOHAMMED /

US backs Iraqi progress on budget deal with Kurdistan Region

The Trump administration says it supports Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's progress so far in working out a budget agreement with the Kurdistan Region.

Islamist parties challenge Iraqi domestic violence draft law

The potential enactment of a domestic violence bill into law has engendered a major struggle between civil society activists and Shiite Islamist parties that believe the law will split families.

Iraqi Kurds take part in a mass demonstration in the city of Sulaymaniyah to demand payment of their salaries and an end to corruption, on September 27, 2016. / AFP / SHWAN MOHAMMED (Photo credit should read SHWAN MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Unpaid salaries fuel protests in Iraqi Kurdistan

Ongoing budget disputes with Baghdad have fueled salary delays and a lack of business bailouts in the Kurdistan Region as KRG debt swells to $27 billion.

What's next for Turkish-Iraqi ties after deadly drone strike?

The killing of Iraqi border guards in a Turkish drone strike undermines Baghdad’s traditional flexibility toward Ankara at a time when Turkey’s Arab adversaries are seeking to draw Iraq to their side.

Iraqis wearing protective masks leave after shopping at the Mall of Baghdad as it reopens after a long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the Al-Harithiya area of the capital Baghdad, on July 19, 2020. (Photo by SABAH ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq again breaks daily COVID-19 record

The outbreak is worst in Baghdad, Erbil and Basra.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY NICOLAS CHEVIRON Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) rebels man a security checkpoint on October 28, 2009 near a PKK base in the Qandil mountains, near Rania province, in northern Iraq. From their bases in northern Iraq, the Kurdish guerilla movement is defying recent overtures of the Turkish government to reconcile with Turkey's 15 million Kurds, saying it is ready to wage a 50-year war against Ankara. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP

Turkey says it will continue attacks on PKK after Iraqi border guards killed

A Turkish drone strike targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party left two Iraqi border guards and their driver dead on Tuesday.