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Iraq

March 12, 2026

Baghdad 10:32 am

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Fighters lift flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including al-Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed a day earlier in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023.

US warns of kidnapping threat in Iraq as Iran-backed militia hits diplomatic facility

A number of US-related sites have been targeted by Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, prompting Baghdad to bolster its air defenses.

The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on Nov. 24, 2025.

Exclusive

Baghdad, US turn to Iraqi Kurds for oil exports as Iran war hits supplies

Baghdad wants Kurdish pipelines to move up to 200,000 barrels per day to global markets, but Erbil is demanding relief from a dollar embargo and greater autonomy over trade.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters affiliated with PAK train on Jan. 18, 2026, near Erbil, Iraq.

Why Israel's looking to Kurds to make gains against Iran regime

Israeli-Kurdish relations are rooted in a common struggle against Islamic extremism and the Kurds’ strategic presence across Turkey, Syria and Iran.

Osama Al Maqdoni / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

CIA, Mossad bolster Iran’s Kurds as US, Israel seek to ignite military revolt

Israel hopes Iran’s Kurds, and other minorities, will mobilize to help bring down the Iranian regime.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Latest News

Which 6 Kurdish groups could join the war in Iran?

A picture from the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan on Feb. 22, 2026.

Exclusive

US-backed Kurdish forces poised to enter Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan 'within days'

A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) participates in a military drill in an outpost near Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq on Jan. 15, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Kurds see opening yet remain wary as Trump seeks help to oust Iran regime

An Iranian Kurdish Peshmerga member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) inspects damage sustained at the Azadi Camp of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) following an Iranian cross-border attack in the town of Koye (Koysinjaq), in the east of Erbil district in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on March 3, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, with the killing of Iran's supreme leader and the Islamic republic retaliated with barr

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Turkey to repatriate its ISIS fighters from Iraq as jihadis escalate Syria attacks

Women and children seen inside al-Hol camp, amongst them some 6,200 women and children from around 40 nationalities, and including relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists in the desert region of Hasakah province on Jan. 25, 2026 in Al Hasakah, Syria.

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

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif (L) speaks during a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad, September 8, 2013. The United States will ignite a fire across the Middle East if it attacks Syria, Zarif said on a visit to Iraq on Sunday, warning Western powers against warmongering. REUTERS/Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Pool (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX13CUF

Iran Looks to Iraq for Syria Support

Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Qods Force, has been seeking assistance from Iraqi Shiite forces to provide support to the Syrian regime but without much apparent success.

Iraqi Kurdistan Minister Addresses Syria, Refugee Crisis

An exclusive interview with Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

Iraqi soldier stands guard at Umm Qasr's port near Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad July 10, 2009. Unions are lobbying against Iraq's new oil contract with BP and China's CNPC, but the weakened labour movement may have a hard time thwarting deals desperately needed to revive a struggling oil sector. Picture taken July 10, 2009. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ CONFLICT POLITICS EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS ENERGY) - RTR25MGP

Iraq’s Faw Port Project Faces Continued Setbacks

Iraq’s Grand Faw Port, planned to be one of the largest maritime ports in the gulf region, has been stalled due to political disputes.

Newly married Iraqi couples arrive at a hotel for a mass wedding reception in central Baghdad, 07 December 2007. Around 70 couples celebrated their wedding today together at a hotel in central Baghdad. AFP PHOTO/ALI YUSSEF (Photo credit should read ALI YUSSEF/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi Women Victimized By Tribal Marriage Customs

In patriarchal and tribal Iraq, thousands of women are forced into unwanted marriages with little to no legal recourse.

Protesters demand that the pensions of parliamentarians be cancelled during a demonstration in Kerbala, 110 km (68 miles) south of Baghdad, August 31, 2013. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Baghdad and central and southern Iraq on Saturday against generous pension payments to lawmakers in a county where many are still struggling to get jobs and basic services. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT SOCIETY CIVIL UNREST) - RTX132KM

New Iraqi Protest Movement Targets Corrruption

Overall dissatisfaction with the Iraqi government promises to overcome sectarian, ethnic and political rifts and pave the way for the emergence of a potentially effective protest movement.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (R) speaks with Kurdish President Masoud Barazani (L) during his visit to Dokan, 290 km (180 miles) northeast of Baghdad July 29, 2009. Ruling parties in Iraqi Kurdistan will retain control of the Kurdish parliament after weekend polls, preliminary results showed on Wednesday. An opposition movement, campaigning against corruption and for political reforms, took a surprise 23.8 percent, electoral officials said in the Kurdish capital Arbil. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ POLITICS

KDP May Run Alone In Iraqi Kurdistan Elections

The two major parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have shared power since 2005, but some believe that President Massoud Barzani and his party are planning to go it alone following upcoming parliamentary elections.

Iraqi Sunni Muslims chant "Allahu Akbar", meaning God is great, during an anti-government demonstration in the central city of Samarra, May 17, 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/Bakr al-Azzawi (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS) - RTXZQH6

Iraqi Sheikh Faces Divisions Within Sunni Community

Sheikh Abdul-Malik al-Saadi seeks to balance support for protests with opposition to a Sunni federal region in Iraq.

Arab foreign ministers arrive to an emergency meeting to discuss the Syrian crisis and the potential military strike on President Bashar al-Assad's regime, at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, September 1, 2013. Saudi Arabia told fellow Arab League states on Sunday that opposing international intervention against the Syrian government would only encourage Damascus to use weapons of mass destruction. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX1341M

Middle East Alliances More Tangled Than Ever

The alliances of regional countries are based on seemingly contradictory interests.

Iraqi security forces stand inside a Sunni mosque at the site of a suicide bomber attack in the town of Wajihiya in the ethnically and religiously diverse province of Diyala, July 20, 2013. A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Sunni mosque in central Iraq, killing at least 20 people in the middle of a sermon on Friday. REUTERS Mohammed Adnan (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTX11SM4

Traumatic Memories Mar Baghdad Neighborhoods

Violence and terrorism have left many Iraqis with post-traumatic stress associated with specific areas of Baghdad they continue to associate with a violent event.

An Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim boy kisses a poster of the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the town of Karbala, some 110 km south from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, early February 6, 2004. Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, survived an assassination bid on Thursday when gunmen opened fire on his entourage in the sacred streets of Najaf, a security aide said. The assassination attempt comes days before a team of United Nations electoral experts is due to arrive in the country to assess the feasi

Ayatollah Sistani and The Battle of Najaf

A book by an aide to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reveals new details about the 2004 Battle of Najaf.

Women hold posters of Shi'ite Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini to commemorate the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day and to show support for the Palestinians, during a rally in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, October 20, 2006. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ) - RTR1IIUAi

Iraq’s Identity Crisis in Symbols

In an increasingly divided Iraq, disputes have broken out regarding the use of photography and symbolism that reinforces sectarian, rather than national, affiliations.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his supporters during his party's congress in Ankara February 26, 2012. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2YGY0

Erdogan Criticizes Opposition Leader For Visits to Iraq, Egypt

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan feverishly criticizes main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu for his travels to Baghdad and Cairo.