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Iraq

June 18, 2026

Baghdad 10:52 pm

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Tom Barrack

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Barrack heads to Iraq as US presses Baghdad on Iran-backed militias

US envoy Tom Barrack is due to meet with Iraq’s new prime minister and other top officials in Baghdad, where he will likely press US demands for Iran-backed Shiite militias be dismantled and disarmed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Members of the Iranian national soccer team including midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh (R) arrive at Tijuana International Airport on June 7, 2026, in Tijuana, Mexico.

Culture

World Cup opens amid visa disputes for Iran, Iraq and Somalia

Iran says a number of team staff were denied entry into the US, with Trump administration officials touting efforts to prevent affiliates of designated terrorist groups from entering.

Latest News

Syria says Iraqi oil shipments surge as Damascus courts foreign energy investment

A long convoys of Iraqi diesel-laden tanker trucks line up along the highway Tartus-Baniyas highway as they wait to unload their cargo at the Baniyas port refinery on the Mediterranean Sea, on April 15, 2026.

Israel-Iran escalation grounds flights across parts of Middle East

An Airbus A321 airliner arrives at the Mehrabad international airport during the delivery of the first batch of planes to the Iranian state airline Iran Air in the capital Tehran on Jaunary 12, 2017. - The aircraft arrived as part of an order for 100 other Airbus planes with a list price of around $20 billion (19 billion euros) on December 22, placed after the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic republic. It will be used for internal flights landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport. (Photo by ATTA

Culture

10 MENA teams at 2026 World Cup: Morocco eyes title, Iran faces visa hurdles

Morocco's midfielder Azzedine Ounahi celebrates scoring with teammates during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group E African qualification football match between Morocco and Niger at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat on September 5, 2025. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)

Analysis

Turkey pushes Iraq, Syria trade routes as Hormuz crisis disrupts Gulf shipping

Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula, on May 17, 2026.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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 picture taken on January 13, 2020, during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State, shows a view of the damage at Ain al-Asad military air base housing US and other foreign troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

Pro-Iran militias increase attacks, rhetoric against foreign troops

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has called on the United States and Iran "to avoid settling scores in Iraq."

This picture taken during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State shows a bulldozer clearing debris from Ain al-Asad military air base in the western province of Anbar, Iraq, Jan. 13, 2020.

US Embassy, Ain al-Asad base targeted in Iraq as militias up tension

Following the US strike on militias' bases last week, the US Embassy and Ain al-Asad base were targeted by a drone and rockets.

The sun sets behind electrical grids in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province, on Jan. 3, 2021.

Islamic State suspected of sabotaging Iraqi electrical towers

Power transmission towers have recently been targeted in Iraq, which already is suffering from major electricity shortages.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to AFP about the strikes on two major Saudi oil facilities that were claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels but which both Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2019.

Iraq to enhance cooperation with NATO

As Iraq aims to rebuild its security institutions, the cooperation with NATO increases.

Families leave al-Hol camp

Iraq seeks to rehabilitate Islamic State families

Baghdad’s program to allow families of Islamic State adherents to return from a Syrian camp and to reintegrate them back into Iraqi society stirs controversy.

A man stands by fans spraying air mixed with water vapor deployed by donors to cool down pedestrians along a street in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, on June 30, 2021, amidst a severe heatwave.

Intel: Iraq’s power crisis prompts resignation of electricity minister

Scorching summer heat, coordinated attacks on power transmission towers and Tehran cutting its power supply to Baghdad have contributed to severe power shortages across the country.

SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images

Iraqi Kurdistan government denies letting US bomb Iran-backed militia

An official from an Iran-backed militia in Iraq accused the Kurdistan Regional Government of allowing the United States to launch bombing runs from Erbil.

SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq replaces state media head

An Iraqi court has reinstated the former president of the Iraqi Media Network, annulling the appointment of Nabil Jasem.

Iraqi mourners attend the funeral of a fighter of the Hashid Shaabi paramilitary alliance following US airstrikes on the Syrian-Iraqi border, on June 28, 2021, in the northern Ninevah province.

Iraq-Syria border strikes on pro-Iran ‘militias’ spark retaliation

Airstrikes on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border near Qaim conducted by the United States were followed by retaliatory strikes by Iran-linked groups against a Kurdish-led SDF base housing coalition forces in eastern Syria.

(L-R) King Abdullah II of Jordan, Iraqi President Barham Salih and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attend a meeting at the Republican Palace on the sidelines of the Iraqi-Egyptian-Jordanian tripartite summit, Baghdad, Iraq, June 27, 2021.

Iraq hosts historic summit with Jordanian, Egyptian leaders

The visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to Baghdad is the first by an Egyptian head of state since 1990.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks to the media during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, Oct. 20, 2020.

Iraqi prime minister attends PMU parade

The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units held a military parade June 26 that was attended by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi as chief commander of the armed forces.

PMU in Hawija 2017

Iraqi PMU plan military parade as show of force

Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units are organizing a military parade on the seventh anniversary of their establishment as a show of strength, but it may also reveal their divisions.