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Iraq

August 25, 2026

Baghdad 2:41 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

A view of al-Firdous square, where the statue of Saddam Hussein used to stand, in Baghdad April 9, 2012. U.S. Marines pulled down the statue of the dictator on April 9, 2003, marking the end of more than 35 years of iron-fisted rule by Saddam's Baath Party. REUTERS/Saad Shalash (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS) - RTR30ITJ

Iraqi Politics Must Shake Legacy of Dictatorship

Although it has been 10 years since Saddam Hussein was ousted by US forces, Iraqi politics remain mired in the legacy of dictatorship.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) meets with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu before attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) security meetings in Bandar Seri Begawan July 2, 2013. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool (BRUNEI - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX119IY

Al-Monitor’s Gursel Wins Award; Watch US House on Syria

Al-Monitor’s coverage of press freedom in Turkey, the US House of Representatives on Syria, and Iraq as possible mediator on Iran; Daoud Kuttab discusses the Middle East with Fareed Zakaria.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Kurdistan Regional President Masoud Barzani pose for the media before their meeting in Istanbul April 19, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer/Pool (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR30XVX

Turkey’s Missed Opportunities With the Kurds

Disarray in Turkish foreign policy is not allowing Turkey to play its rightful role in supporting Kurdish national unity.

Iraqi Ambassador Says Iraq Willing To Help Bridge US-Iran Divide

Lukman Faily, Iraq’s Ambassador to Washington, says his country is ready to help, if asked, to mend US-Iran ties.

Mourners pray at the coffin of a victim killed during an attack on a prison in Taji, during a funeral at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad July 22, 2013. Sixteen soldiers and six militants were killed during an attack on the prison on Sunday in Taji, around 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, but guards managed to prevent any inmates escaping. The attack was conducted simultaneously and followed a similar pattern as the attack on Abu Ghraib jail, where hundreds of convicts, in

Al-Qaeda Militants Raid Iraq's Abu Ghraib, Taji Prisons

Tenuous official accounts of what really transpired during the Abu Ghraib and Taji prison breaks leave many questions about the incident unanswered.

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

A vendor sits under an anti-Israel mural during a demonstration after Friday prayers in Tehran October 9, 2009. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN POLITICS RELIGION) - RTXPGS2

Ahmadinejad Tepidly Received On Final Iraq Visit

The final visit to Iraq by outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad highlighted the mixed relations between the two countries during his term in office.

Kurdish women walk past a truck that was hit in the 1988 chemical attack at the memorial site for victims of the attack in the Kurdish town of Halabja, near Sulaimaniya, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, March 16, 2013. Iraqi Kurds on Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of the chemical attack on the northern Iraqi city of Halabja by Saddam Hussein's forces. Up to 5,000 people may have been killed by chemical gas, villages were razed and thousands of Kurds were forced into camps during the 1988 Anfal

Iraqi Kurdistan Fails to Address Violence Against Women

Violence, self-immolation and suicide continue to plague the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s women, with a shortage of civic institutions to deal with these 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.