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

Iran cover image

Iraq

August 25, 2026

Baghdad 12:25 pm

45°C

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Oil falls 1.8% as traders await 'toughest' sanctions on Iran

Traders are awaiting details about new US measures sure to further disrupt Iranian oil flows.

Zaidi

Iraq’s Zaidi doubles down on militia disarmament, boosting oil exports

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi made the comments amid Hormuz-related export struggles and a nearing deadline for armed groups to disarm.

Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, gives a press conference in the autonomous region's capital Arbil on June 25, 2025.

Interview

Barzani calls for enhanced air defense for Kurdistan Region to counter drone attacks

Iraqi Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani backs US-led regional economic integration efforts and lauds US partnership in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor.

Masrour Barzani

Masrour Barzani

KRG Prime Minister

Latest News

Exclusive

Saudi Arabia wants Iran-backed militia 'heads to roll' in Iraq amid talks with Tehran

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Explainer

Iraq seeks special Hormuz access from Iran in scramble to keep oil flowing

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s Ghalibaf makes high-level visit to Iraq ahead of disarmament deadline

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks during a press conference at the site where Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed by a US airstrike in 2020 near the airport upon his arrival in Baghdad, on Aug. 19, 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

Boys carry weapons during a weapon handover event to the Iraqi government in Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad December 11, 2010. Several Iraqi tribes handed over their weapons, acquired during the Saddam Hussein era, to the Iraqi government, as part of a security plan to improve the security situation in southern Iraq. Picture taken December 11, 2010. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXVNSE

Carrying weapons is new norm for Iraqi youths

Amid the devastating violence that has plagued Iraq for the past 10 years, Iraqi youths are increasingly carrying knives and other light weapons.

Iraqi Sunni Muslims wave the old flags of Iraq during an anti-government demonstration in Falluja, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad May 3, 2013. Tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims poured onto the streets of Ramadi and Falluja in the western province of Anbar following Friday prayers, in their biggest show of strength since the outbreak of protests last year. REUTERS/Mohanned Faisal (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZ987

Iraq's unknown future

It's no secret that Iraq’s present situation is dire; however, the question is still pertinent regarding what we can expect for the nation’s future.

Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and flags with portraits of the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir March 21, 2013. Ocalan ordered his fighters on Thursday to cease fire and withdraw from Turkish soil as a step to ending a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, riven the country and battered its economy. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, gathered in the regional centre of Diyarbakir, cheered and wav

Diyarbakir is ready for the historic visit

Diyarbakir is ready for the visits of Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani and Kurdish singer in exile Shivan Perwer, upon Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) speaks as Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev listens during a news conference following a signing ceremony in Istanbul June 26, 2012. Turkey and Azerbaijan signed an inter-governmental agreement on Tuesday on the $7 billion Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline project (TANAP), planned to carry Azeri natural gas across Turkey to Europe. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev signed the deal at an Istanbul ceremony to launch a project

Turkey’s restart in regional and foreign energy policies

Ankara is recasting its policies toward Cyprus, Israel, Azerbaijan and Iraq.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addresses the media during a joint news conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Baghdad, November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX157TO

Turkey charts new course in Iraq

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's recent visit to Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala is the latest sign of a new, dual-track policy on Iraq that is endorsed by the United States.

An aerial view of excess gas burning off at the al-Ahdab oil field in Wasit province September 23, 2011. Chinese company, the China National Petroleum Corporation has begun operations at the Al-Ahdab oil field in Iraq, according to news reports. Picture taken September 23, 2011. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags :POLITICS BUSINESS - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY BUSINESS) - RTR2RRJ2

Iraq: Oil companies tighten security following attack

Following the Nov. 1 attack on the Ahdab oil field in southern Iraq, foreign oil companies operating in the country have tightened security measures while the government tries to ease concerns.

Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) (C) speaks next to European Parliament leader of the Civil Liberties Committee Inquiry Claude Moraes (L) and German Member of the European Parliament and the current Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok (R) about a closed door meeting on NSA surveillance on U.S. allies while on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 28, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

House Intel Committee Chairman worried about bad deal on Iran

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, says Congress should pass further sanctions on Iran.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) shakes hands with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari after a news conference in Ankara October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX14NP6

Turkey returns to balance in Baghdad, KRG ties

Turkey is flirting with Baghdad while dancing with Erbil.

Iraq's Jaafari law would violate human rights

A draft law that would impose the principles of Jaafari jurisprudence on Shiite marriages would violate many human rights protected under Iraq's civil code.

An Iraqi walks past a provincial elections campaign billboard in Baghdad, April 18, 2013. Iraq will hold its provincial elections on Saturday. The billboard reads, "coalition of state of law, determination and construction". REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXYQSD

Iraqi elections will be about Maliki

Iraqi electoral coalitions are expected to fragment before the upcoming general election in April 2014.

Iraqi Shi'ite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (L) attends a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) during his visit to Najaf, 160km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, November 11, 2013. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1597Z

Turkey's approach toward Iraq's Shiites will reduce sectarianism

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has visited the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala, as Ankara shifts its approach toward Iraqi Shiites.

Security and residents inspect the site where a car bomb exploded in front of the gold-domed Shi'ite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab in southern Damascus, June 14, 2012. A car bomb exploded in a car park in southern Damascus, near the gold-domed Shi'ite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, activists and state media said.The powerful blast caused a deep crater in the tarmac and wrecked several buses, smashing windows of cars across a wide area. Two people were wounded, state news agency SANA reported. REUTERS/Sana/Handout (SY

Some Iraqis remain in Damascus despite war

Many Iraqis who live in Syria prefer to stay despite the war, because they consider the killings in Baghdad to be more "random."