Iraq - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Iraq

April 19, 2025

Baghdad 8:14 pm

23°C

oil field

After steep fall, oil prices slightly recover following Trump tariff pause

Over the last week, oil prices have plummeted amid the escalating trade war between the United States and China.

A picture taken on Oct. 17, 2017, shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multiethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Exclusive

Iraq seeks more compensation from Turkey, 'blocks' reopening of Kurds' oil pipeline

Disputes over oil revenues and arbitration claims have kept the Kurdish pipeline closed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

AFP via Getty Images

One Turkish soldier, 17 PKK militants killed in northern Iraq clashes

The killing of the Turkish soldier comes ahead of militant leader Abdullah Ocalan’s expected call to disarm the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Ocalan

Iraqi Kurds lend hand as PKK leader negotiates plan for peace with Turkey

Abdullah Ocalan is expected to urge his men to lay down their arms and end a more than 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state, capping talks launched in April last year between the rebel leader, PKK commanders and the Turkish government.

Latest News

Turkey, Jordan, Iraq to hold first anti-ISIS summit this month: Turkish official

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (R), Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2023.

Iraq passes law that could legalize child marriage: What to know

Iraqi Muslim girls, who traditionally begin wearing the hijaba head covering worn in publicat the mandatory age of nine, take part in a ceremony organized at a stadium in Basra on December 19, 2024. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP) (Photo by HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Kurdish leader Barzani, SDF's Kobane meet to seek common ground in Syria

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Exclusive

Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani to meet Syria SDF commander Kobane in historic step

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Kobane waves after giving a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on Dec. 6, 2024.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Pentagon Correspondent

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

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Andrew Parasiliti

President and Chief Content Officer

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

A medic works at a laboratory at the Nablus hospital, run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Dec. 16, 2021.

Iraq's war-battered cities grapple with rising resistance to antibiotics

Six years after the liberation of Mosul from the Islamic State, the city battles a silent enemy: abnormally high rates of multidrug-resistant infections. It's a phenomenon fueled by decades of war that poses a massive threat to global health.

Iraqi security forces deploy near the gate of the green zone in Baghdad during a demonstration marking Labour Day on May 1, 2023, to demand a law establishing a salary grid to reduce pay inequalities for around 3 million government employees in the country.

US, Iraq defense chiefs discuss post-Islamic State strategy

Congress has long sought answers as to how the Pentagon plans to prepare Iraq’s military forces to stand on their own after the defeat of the Islamic State. This week, the Biden administration took a first step.

In this photo illustration, the messaging service Telegram app is seen on a mobile phone on Jan. 11, 2021.

Iraqi militias continue to use Telegram despite block

Iraq’s state media channel switched to the Israeli-founded Viber in response to the ban. Telegram is popular with protesters and militias alike in Iraq.

Mideast heat

From Egypt to Iran, heatwave compounds Middle East electricity problems, climate change burdens

Countries like Iraq are particularly susceptible to climate change, as recurring blackouts make it harder to stay cool indoors.

ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images

UK formally recognizes genocide against Yazidis by Islamic State

The United Kingdom is the latest country to recognize the 2014 mass slaughter of Yazidis by the Islamic State as genocide.

Relatives mourn over the caskets of 11 people killed in Turkish airstrikes.

US, Russia mum as Turkey escalates attacks against Kurdish groups in Syria, Iraq

Both the White House and the State Department remain silent as Turkey's military campaign against the PKK continues "full blast."

SAFIN HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq’s Yazidis appeal to Baghdad for funds to rebuild their native Sinjar

Iraq's Yazidi groups are pleading for more financial assistance to rebuild Sinjar, which was decimated by the Islamic State.

Stacks of Iraqi dinars are seen at a currency exchange shop, Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 14, 2023.

Iraqi dinar falls 17% against dollar amid US restrictions over Iran deals

The current depreciation follows 14 Iraqi banks being barred from using the dollar amid a crackdown on smuggling to Iran.

Iraq Sako

Analysis

Inside Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church battle with Iran-backed Christian group

The Babylon Movement and its sanctioned leader, Rayan al-Kaldani, are feuding with Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako, leading to significant controversy that now involves the United States and the Vatican.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

A supporter of the former paramilitary group Hashd al-Shaabi holds the Koran.

Iran, Saudi Arabia condemn Quran protest as Sweden relocates embassy staff from Iraq

Another provocative protest by Sweden-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika targeting Islam’s holy book has the region up in arms once again.

Yasmen and Jan

Yazidi victims of Islamic State heal wounds, grow independent in Germany

Despite the tragedies they suffered at the hands of the terror group in their homeland in the Iraqi Kurdistan province, many Yazidis in Germany are now prospering in their new lives.

Iraqi riot police try to disperse protesters who breached the Swedish embassy compound and set fires inside

Iraq expels Sweden envoy as Koran stomped in Stockholm

Agence France-Presse