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Iraq

August 25, 2026

Baghdad 12:43 pm

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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

Iraqi 'Exile' Politicians Build Patronage Networks

Former exiles who are now leading politicans are perceived by many Iraqis as abusing their authority and privileges.

Al-Moussawi Says Iraq Can Be'Bridge' to Syria Solution

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Ali Al-Moussawi, top media adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, discusses the Geneva II Syria conference and Iraqi-Turkish relations.

Iraqi boys are seen through the broken window of a car which was damaged in mortar attack in southwest Baghdad, December 11, 2006. REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen (IRAQ) - RTR1KAON

Iraq's Moral Deficit

Iraqis have the moral and historical responsibility to find an agreed-upon national project, if they want to save their country from collapse.

Where Do Babylonian Jewry's Archives Belong?

The archives of Iraq's Jewish community should be returned to Baghdad and serve as the cornerstone for a historic reconciliation between Babylonian Jewry and their homeland.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad March 24, 2013. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday and will urge Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to make sure Iranian flights over Iraq do not carry arms and fighters to Syria, a U.S. official said. REUTERS/Jason Reed (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXXVJU

Maliki Seeks to Leverage US-Iran Opening

Security is at the top of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s visit to Washington, but he may also consider a US-Iran rapprochement as a means to strengthen his chances for a third term.

Iraqi political leaders and members of parliament including from (L-R) Iyad Allawi, former prime minister and head of the secular Iraqiya coalition, Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Malik and Iraq's Kurdistan region Prime Minister Barham Salih are attend the 13th Conference of Kurdistan Democratic Party in Arbil, 310 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad December 11, 2010. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags:

PUK divided after losses in Kurdistan region parliament

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has fractured following the substantial losses it sustained in September's Iraqi Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections.

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) - RTX13CU2

Will Tehran’s Iraq Policy Change Under Rouhani?

Considering Tehran’s increasing openness with the West, will Iranian policy toward Iraq change under its new president?

A man looks at a car on fire at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad October 7, 2013. Bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 22 people, police said. Five of the six blasts were in mainly Shi'ite Muslim districts, but there was also an explosion in the predominantly Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Doura. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX142ZK

Maliki to Appeal for US Help In Fighting Terrorism

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will make the case that terrorism in Iraq is directly related to the war in Syria.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) welcomes his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Baghdad International Airport, October 15, 2009. REUTERS/Iraqi Government/Handout (IRAQ POLITICS) - RTXPNTX

Erdogan Rebuilds Ties to Iraq

Regional events are catalysts for a rapprochement between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Rafi Essawi (R) meets with Hassan al-Shammari, head of the Iraqi Islamic al Fadila parliamentary bloc, in Baghdad October 1, 2010. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXSX67

Proposed personal status law will not help Iraqi Jaafaris

A proposed law to protect the personal status of Shiite Jaafaris is redundant and may in fact cause them harm.

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, Iraq Work to Renew Ties

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari’s visit to Ankara last week suggests Turkey is trying to adjust its approach to its neighbors.

Relatives carry the coffin of an Iraqi police officer killed by militants during a funeral in Najaf, around 160 km (99 miles)
south of Baghdad May 20, 2013. The attacks took place in the Sunni heartland of Anbar, where gunmen on Saturday ambushed and kidnapped 10 policemen near the provincial capital of Ramadi, and four members of a government-backed Sunni militia fighters were killed near Falluja city When Sunni-Shi'ite bloodshed was at its height in 2006-07, Anbar, which shares a border with Syria, was i

Al-Qaeda Sets Sights On Iraq’s Anbar Province

As al-Qaeda-affiliated groups expand their activities throughout Iraq, some believe they are eyeing Anbar province, where a “huge battle” could unfold in the near future.