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

Iran cover image

Iraq

May 7, 2026

Baghdad 5:46 pm

29°C

Zaidi

Analysis

Iraq’s Zaidi offers economic promise for Turkey but unknowns loom

Iraq’s prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, is expected to sustain growing economic and strategic ties with Turkey thanks to his business-oriented approach, though uncertainty over his political stance could test cooperation on sensitive issues.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Ali Al-Zaidi

Analysis

US banking on Iraqi turnaround with nomination of Zaidi as new PM

Trump signals hope for a "tremendous new chapter” in US-Iraq ties with the nomination of Ali Al-Zaidi as prime minister.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Iraq's prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, at Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office on April 28, 2026.

Trump congratulates Iraq PM-designate Zaidi in call: What to know

The US President was openly critical of previous nominee Nouri al-Maliki, seen as too close to Iran, but is now welcoming the new candidate put forward by Iraq’s leading Shiite bloc.

Latest News

Meet Ali al-Zaidi, businessman and Iraq's new prime minister-designate

Prime Minister Mohammed S. al-Sudani met with Prime Minister-designate Ali Faleh al-Zaidi on April 28, 2026.

Iraq's Shiite alliance nominates Ali al-Zaidi as PM candidate: What to know

Ali al-Zaidi

Split over Maliki, Iraq’s Shiite bloc delays PM vote as deadline nears: What to know

Qais al-Khazali (L), head of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, stands along with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after casting their ballots at a polling station in Baghdad on Nov. 11, 2025.

How Syria's border opening with Iraq redefines Turkey-Kurd balance

Members of Iraq's security forces stand guard on the the al-Rabia border crossing with Syria on April 20, 2026.

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

People gather around wreckage after a car bomb at the Wadi al-Thahb neighborhood in Homs city June 24, 2014, in this picture provided by Syria's national news agency SANA. The car bomb killed a woman and wounded 23, state media said. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST)

ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXAC

Gloves come off between Syrian regime, Islamic State

A deadly assault by the Islamic State on a regime-held gas field in Homs province marks a new chapter in Syria's civil war as government forces and Islamic State face off.

Dhafer al-Ani (C), a prominent Sunni Arab lawmaker, speaks during a news conference by members of Sunni political bloc Mutahidoon after the first session of the Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad, July 1, 2014. Sunnis and Kurds walked out of the first session of Iraq's new parliament on Tuesday after Shi'ites failed to name a prime minister to replace Nuri al-Maliki, dimming any prospect of an early national unity government to save Iraq from collapse. Parliament is not likely to meet again for at least a week, le

Iraqi crisis highlights need for dialogue

In light of the escalating security situation in Iraq, political figures need to do more than broadcast their message through the media and official channels.

Najaf, Qom take different approaches in Iraq

The two religious authorities Najaf and Qom have divergent views on Iraq's political affairs, with Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi — the religious authority in Qom — identifying various actors in the Iraqi crisis, praising Shiite militias and accusing Sunni politicians.

Smoke trails are seen as rockets are launched towards Israel from the northern Gaza Strip July 13, 2014. Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 160 people. Militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip kept up rockets salvoes deep into the Jewish state and the worst bout of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed in two years showed no sign

Iran boosts Hamas rocket capacity

Congress is skeptical of extending of Iran talks; Iran has a hand in Gaza; acrimony between Egypt and Hamas is hindering a cease-fire agreement; and the Islamic State using the Turkish Consulate in Mosul as its headquarters.

Smoke rises from a oil refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad, in this picture taken through the windscreen of a car, June 19, 2014. Iraqi government forces battled Sunni rebels for control of the country's biggest refinery on Thursday as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki waited for a U.S. response to an appeal for air strikes to beat back the threat to Baghdad. Secretary of State John Kerry said President Barack Obama still had "all options" open to him but U.S. regional allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia echoed conc

Iraq's instability trouble for Lebanese investors

Foreign investments in Iraq are at a standstill amid recent crises, with Lebanon's $3 billion worth of investments in the country set to decline if a political solution is not reached.

With Iraqi roads blocked, demand for flights from Baghdad soars

The continued instability in Iraq is forcing residents to flee. With land borders blocked by fighting, people are forced to wait more than a month for plane tickets.

Militant Islamist fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted pictures online on Sunday of people waving black flags from cars and holding

Baath spokesman denies alliance with Islamic State

The spokesman of the Baath Party, Khodair al-Morshedi, considers the Islamic State (IS) a terrorist organization and denies having any ties with it.

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. There had previously been reports on social media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name to the Islamic S

Who is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?

Details emerge about the years that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State, spent in Afghanistan.

Israel considers costs of escalation in Gaza

Gaza residents bear the costs of war; Israel weighs its option with Hamas; Al-Monitor interviews Iraqi political leaders; the forgotten war in Syria.

Smoke and flames are seen following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip July 11, 2014. Israel pressed on for a fourth day with its Gaza offensive on Friday, striking the Hamas-dominated enclave from air and sea, as Palestinian militants kept up rocket attacks deep into the Jewish state. At least 79 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the offensive, which Israel says it launched to end persistent rocket attacks on its civilian population, s

Global jihad benefits from Gaza crisis

As Arab states do little to intervene in Gaza, militant jihadism continues to spread throughout the region.

Christian families, who fled from the violence in Mosul, gather at a building which was used as a social club in Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region June 26, 2014. Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3VXHK

Iraqi minorities victim of sectarian conflict

The minorities in Iraq are subject to religious restrictions in the areas controlled by the Islamic State, which might lead to their extinction.

The President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani (C) visits Kirkuk June 26, 2014. Barzani visited Kirkuk on Thursday for the first time since forces from the autonomous region took full control of the city. Kurdish forces moved into bases deserted by the Iraqi army two weeks ago in Kirkuk, which lies just outside the formal boundary of the northern region and is a centre of Iraq's oil industry. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3VY11

Barzani: Iraqi Kurds keeping their options open

In an interview with Al-Monitor, President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani speaks about the current crisis and doesn’t rule out the right to self-determination if unification efforts fail.