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

Iran cover image

Iraq

March 12, 2026

Baghdad 10:44 pm

16°C

Retired Israeli general and executive director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies Amos Yadlin attends a session at the Manama Dialogue security conference in the Bahraini capital, on Dec. 5, 2020.

Interview

Yadlin: Israel's war goal to weaken Iran, not immediate regime change

Israeli leaders are aware that Washington will decide when the war ends whether or not Israel has achieved its war aims, Yadlin told Al-Monitor.

Commercial vessels are pictured offshore in Dubai on March 11, 2026. AFP via Getty Images

Oil jumps above $100 as energy crisis called worst in history: What to know

The latest spike is the second time in a week that oil prices have climbed above $100 a barrel.

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

Latest News

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

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

Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers man a checkpoint in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad June 29, 2011. Iraq's Kurds may be split on everything from party politics to how to manage their region's oil wealth, but most agree on one thing: They need U.S. troops to stay to help preserve the peace. More than eight years after the U.S. invasion, Iraqis are debating whether to ask American troops to stay on past a planned withdrawal, a sensitive question that is testing its fragile power-sharing government. Kurd

Kurdish Security Forces Shield RegionFrom Iraq's Security Woes

The Kurdistan Regional Government's sophisticated intelligence network has ensured relative peace in contrast to the rest of Iraq.

An elderly Iraqi man on a wheelchair receives help as he votes during Iraq's provincial elections at a polling station in Mosul, 390 km (242 miles) north of Baghdad, June 20, 2013. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousuly (IRAQ - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) - RTX10UKC

Iraqi Politicians Need to Reconnect With Society

Iraqi politicians local election campaigns are out of touch with the needs of the people.

Residents gather at the Shabandar Cafe in Baghdad May 12, 2012. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR31XYG

Baghdad Cafe Raids Put Sadr on the Spot

The recent attacks and closures of cafes in the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad have served to shake the solid footing Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is attempting to establish in the city’s local government.

An investor speaks on the phone during trading hours at the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) in Baghdad, April 2, 2013. Last month's scene at the headquarters of the Baghdad bourse revealed the struggle which Iraq faces to modernise its financial system: it must overcome primitive, ultra-conservative savings habits born of decades of war and political instability. Picture taken April 2, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTXY6UX

Iraqi Officials Divided Over Dinar 'Reset'

Various bodies within the Iraqi government are debating the implications of a move to “reset” the national currency by deleting three zeros from it.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari attends the Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Baghdad March 28, 2012. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2ZZVG

Iraq Rebuilds Ties to Saudi Arabia

After years of misunderstandings and tensions, relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have begun to warm up.

Posters of late Shi'ite Mehdi Army members are displayed on their graves in a Sadrist cemetery in the holy city of Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad September 13, 2008. Forced off Iraq streets and with diminished political clout, what anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia do next will be crucial if they are to remain relevant. Picture taken September 13, 2008. To match feature IRAQ/SADR REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz (IRAQ) - RTX8SVI

The Rise of 'Cleric Militias' in Iraq

In recent years, Iraq has witnessed a rise in militias led by Shiite clerics, with some fearing that Sunnis may soon follow suit, thus exacerbating the regional sectarian conflict.

A Free Syrian Army member inspects his weapon beside a checkpoint to siege the Kurdish city of Afrin, which is under the control of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in the Aleppo countryside June 30, 2013. REUTERS/Hamid Khatib (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX117H8

The Struggle for Syrian Kurdistan

Al-Monitor covers Syrian Kurdistan, the rebel siege of Aleppo, maids in Saudi Arabia and the Iraqi sex trade.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki speaks during the opening ceremony of the Defence University for Military Studies inside Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone June 17, 2012. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR33R99

Iraqi Religious Leaders Nix Maliki's Electoral Plans

Shiite authorities in Najaf have sided with the prime minister's oppenents over the country's new electoral law, hampering Maliki’s chances of dominating the next government.

Syrian Kurds Prepare For Self-Governance

The PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party is consulting the political parties of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq on plans to form an interim government for Kurdish-controlled enclaves in Syria.

An oil tanker passes through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea in Istanbul September 1, 2012. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: ENERGY MARITIME) - RTR37D2S

Turkey Adds Fuel to Fight Of Iraqi Kurds for Independence

Despite Turkey’s age-old fear of Kurdish independence in contiguous regions near its border, energy ties are growing between Turkey and Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

People sit outside a cafe in Baghdad December 1, 2011. The last 13,000 U.S. troops will pull out of Iraq by the end of the year. Violence in the country has dropped sharply since the heights of sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007, but at least 10 people were killed in a bombing just north of the capital Baghdad. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (IRAQ - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT SOCIETY) - RTR2UPPL

New Religious Campaign Targets Baghdad's Cafes

Authorities in Baghdad have begun to encroach on personal freedoms, closing cafes even when they only serve coffee and tea after Ramadan fasting is over.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani (L) talk as they hold a joint news conference in Baghdad, July 7, 2013. Barzani visited Baghdad on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in a symbolic step to resolve disputes between the central government and the autonomous region over land and oil. The visit follows an equally rare trip by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who met Barzani in Kurdistan last month, breaking ice between leaders who have repeated

Iraqi MP: Maliki, Barzani Close to Solving Oil Dispute

Rapport between Baghdad and Erbil seems relatively warm as the two governments continue to settle oil disputes.