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Iraq

April 5, 2025

Baghdad 5:50 pm

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A picture taken on Oct. 17, 2017, shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multiethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Exclusive

Iraq seeks more compensation from Turkey, 'blocks' reopening of Kurds' oil pipeline

Disputes over oil revenues and arbitration claims have kept the Kurdish pipeline closed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

AFP via Getty Images

One Turkish soldier, 17 PKK militants killed in northern Iraq clashes

The killing of the Turkish soldier comes ahead of militant leader Abdullah Ocalan’s expected call to disarm the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Ocalan

Iraqi Kurds lend hand as PKK leader negotiates plan for peace with Turkey

Abdullah Ocalan is expected to urge his men to lay down their arms and end a more than 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state, capping talks launched in April last year between the rebel leader, PKK commanders and the Turkish government.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (R), Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2023.

Turkey, Jordan, Iraq to hold first anti-ISIS summit this month: Turkish official

Top diplomats as well as Turkish, Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi defense and intelligence chiefs aim to hold a first security summit this month as part of efforts to set up a regional anti-ISIS coalition, Al-Monitor has learned.

Latest News

Iraq passes law that could legalize child marriage: What to know

Iraqi Muslim girls, who traditionally begin wearing the hijaba head covering worn in publicat the mandatory age of nine, take part in a ceremony organized at a stadium in Basra on December 19, 2024. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP) (Photo by HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Kurdish leader Barzani, SDF's Kobane meet to seek common ground in Syria

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Exclusive

Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani to meet Syria SDF commander Kobane in historic step

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Kobane waves after giving a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on Dec. 6, 2024.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Khamenei pushes for US withdrawal from Iraq in meeting with Sudani

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Jan. 8, 2024.

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Pentagon Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Andrew Parasiliti

President and Chief Content Officer

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

(L-R) Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi wave hands during the group photo session, a head of the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries, on the sideline of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province on Sept. 5, 2017.

Al-Monitor/Premise poll finds Biden's unpopularity in Mideast makes room for China, Russia to outshine US

Washington’s influence remains potent despite its perceived disengagement from the Middle East, but Russia and China are eagerly finding gaps to fill.

Elizabeth Tsurkov

Lawmakers urge Biden to help free Princeton researcher kidnapped in Iraq

The State Department says it has urged senior Iraqi officials to locate and secure the release of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher believed to be held by Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah.

Workers tasked with putting out the fire in an oil well, set ablaze by retreating Islamic State (IS) jihadists, assemble a water pipeline in the town of Qayyarah.

Iraq plans to reopen own oil pipeline as talks to restart Kurdish route stall

The move to reopen the pipeline will irk the Kurdistan Regional Government, as it introduces a rival route to a section of the pipeline in Kurdistan that has been shut for a year and is a crucial economic source for the semi-autonomous region.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

From PKK to corridor project: Ambitious agenda awaits Turkey’s Erdogan in Iraq

Security cooperation and transport corridor plans are expected to top the agenda of the Turkish president’s visit to Iraq in April, the first of its kind since 2011.

Members of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) cheer as they carry upside-down a black flag of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the Old City of Mosul on July 2, 2017.

Iraq says it killed prominent ISIS leader as group resurfaces

The Islamic State remains active in Iraq as Baghdad and Washington discuss winding down the US presence in the country, though the group is relatively weak at present.

Army Staff Sgt. Brandy Nicole Mejia, DOD

Who is Najah al-Shammari, former Iraqi defense minister arrested in Sweden?

Shammari served in the Iraqi military under Saddam Hussein and following the 2003 US invasion, and was under investigation for fraud.

A photograph taken on Oct. 22, 2011, shows a Turkish military helicopter flying over a mountain in Yemisli, in the Hakkari province

PKK kills Turkish soldier in northern Iraq as Ankara threatens major offensive

The militant group killed one Turkish soldier and wounded four others in northern Iraq, as Turkey threatened a major offensive to "annihilate" the Kurdish militant group by summer.

An engineer walks across the Zubair oil field in southern Iraq on Jan. 21, 2010.

Analysis

What does US sanctions waiver mean for Iraq’s energy dependence on Iran?

Iraq is seeking to boost its domestic natural gas sector and find alternatives to Iranian electricity but has not made significant progress, according to one expert.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Relatives mourn over the caskets of 11 people killed in Turkish air strikes during their funeral in al-Malikiyah (Derik) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, on November 21, 2022. - Turkey hit dozens of targets in northern Syria as well as northern Iraq overnight into Sunday, a week after a deadly attack in Istanbul which Ankara has blamed on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (Photo by Gihad DARWISH / AFP) (Photo by GIHAD DARWISH/AFP via Getty Images)

Baghdad's PKK ban marks win-win for Iraq, Turkey but warning to Iran

The move could ease Turkey's military operations in northern Iraq while at the same allowing Baghdad to extend its presence and control over its territory.

High-level officials from Turkey and Iraq held a security summit in Baghdad, March 14, 2024.

Iraq bans PKK as security ties with Turkey gain momentum

The decision comes after the high-level talks between Turkish and Iraqi officials in Baghdad.

Turkey’s Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kalin, head of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency, met in Ankara on March 11, 2024.

Three top Turkey officials to visit Iraq as Erdogan threatens Kurdish militants

The officials’ visit signals a fresh drive to dial up pressure on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which Ankara accuses of collaborating with Kurdish militants.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with US national security advisor Jake Sullivan in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Jan. 16, 2024.

Iraq’s Sudani faces US pressure to fix problems with Kurds ahead of Washington visit

Resolving ongoing disputes between Baghdad and Erbil is a matter of priority for Washington.