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

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Iraq

March 13, 2026

Baghdad 12:30 am

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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

Members of Hezbollah Iraq carry the coffin of their comrade Reza Khudair al-Khalidi, who was also a Shi'ite fighter and killed in clashes with the Free Syrian Army, during his funeral in Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, June 5, 2013. Hundreds of Iraqis attended the funeral on Thursday, and relatives of Khalidi said he was killed while fighting on the outskirts of the border town of Qusair. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTX10CYT

Leader of Hezbollah in Iraq Threatens More Sectarian Violence

The leader of Hezbollah in Iraq, Wathiq al-Battat, continues to amp up talk of Shiites exacting revenge against al-Qaeda and Baathists.

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 Anbar Province Struggles To Form Government

Three months following elections in Iraq’s protest-riddled Anbar province, its various factions have still not managed to create alliances and form a local government.

Iraqi men walk past posters advertising a pornographic film at a cinema
in Baghdad, April 30, 2003. Pornography and prostitution was officially
banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein until his ousting from power
by U.S.-led forces two weeks ago.

REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra - RTRMOD7

Iraq’s Sex Trade Thrives

Given the lax security situation since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the country’s sex trade has proliferated.

$Members of the new Iraqi Parliament attend a session at the Parliament headquarters in Baghdad, November 11, 2010. Iraq's fractious politicians have agreed to return Shi'ite Nuri al-Maliki as prime minister, ending an eight-month deadlock that raised fears of renewed sectarian war, but leaving some Sunnis sceptical he can forge national unity. The pact on top government posts brings together Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds in a power-sharing arrangement similar to the last Iraqi government and could help prevent$

Iraqi Politicians Push For More Power to Provinces

The Iraqi parliament’s passing of the Provincial Powers Law has led to calls for the establishment of the Federation Council, which would further decentralize power as stipulated in the 2005 constitution.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.

Iranian clerics talk to each other during break time at a religious conference centre in Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, March 9, 2011. The clerics are attending the International Conference of Religious Doctrines and the Mind-Body Problem. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR2JNWP

Shiite Seminaries in Najaf, Qom Struggle With Dual Roles

Shiite seminaries in Najaf and Qom struggle to balance between preserving Shiite identity, while at the same time maintaining their distance from any sectarian conflict and supporting Islamic unity.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) meets with Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani (L) 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 repeatedly accused each other of violating

Barzani's Goodwill Baghdad Tour

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, met with Baghdad's key political leaders in an attempt to generate consensus and compromise.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre L) attends a meeting with Iraqi heads of parliamentary blocs at the parliament house in Baghdad, December 6, 2012. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3B9XR

Iraqi Law to Reform Political Financing Blocked in Parliament

The Iraqi Council of Representatives is blocking a law that would create financial transparency for financing political parties.

Iraq's Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi (R) meets with Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani (L) 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 repeatedly accused each other of vi

Iraqi Kurdish Parties Dispute Law Extending Barzani Presidency

Due to its general disregard for the internal bylaws of the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s parliament, members of President Massoud Barzani’s party and the opposition both have objected to a law extending his term.

Female members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi with a drum and flags shout slogans as they rally at the Rabaa Adawiya square, where they are camping at, in Cairo July 11, 2013. Political infighting threatened to stall Egypt's transition plans on Thursday, as the military cracked down on Muslim Brotherhood leaders it blames for inciting a clash in Cairo in which troops shot and killed 53 protesters. Monday's violence between supporters of Mursi, Egypt's fi

Iraqi Kurdistan's Islamist Parties Condemn Egyptian Coup

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s Islamist parties consider the coup that ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi a setback for democracy.

A customer shops for clothes at a clothing store in Baghdad's Karrada district August 14, 2012. Iraq relies on imports from neighbours like Syria, Turkey and Iran for 95 percent of its consumer goods. Syria in particular is a key supplier of manufactured goods, fresh vegetables and fruit. But as an uprising there against President Bashar al-Assad grinds through its 17th month, the supply of Syrian goods to Iraq is slowly drying up as Syrian businesses are forced to close and trucks struggle to cross borders

Baghdad Delays New Iraqi Customs Law

As disagreements persist with Erbil, Baghdad has requested that an unimplemented customs tariff law be postponed in what some see as a bid to buy time for tensions to cool.

Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and portraits of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir March 21, 2013. Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah 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 Diyarb

Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process Poorly Managed

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan needs to address the trauma resulting from the fight against PKK terror for over three decades.

A resident buys a newspaper from a kiosk in Baghdad February 23, 2009. A boom in local media since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has given Iraqis a choice between some 200 print outlets, 60 radio stations and 30 TV channels in Arabic, Turkmen, Syriac and two Kurdish dialects. Yet most media outlets remain dominated by sectarian and party patrons who use them for their own ends, and have yet to become commercially sustainable enterprises let alone watchdogs keeping government under scrutiny, the favoured Wes

Iraqi Parliament Puts Controversial Media Law on Hold

Due to controversial wording in its draft and a general outcry from the country’s media community, Iraq has not passed its Communications and Media Commission law.