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Iraq

June 19, 2026

Baghdad 11:54 am

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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

Iraq regains confidence in dealing with outlawed militias

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of a US-targeted drone assassination in the Iraqi capital that outraged some and pleased others, arrests made and warrants issued may signal progress in the struggle to curb the influence of armed groups operating outside government control.

UN condemns Trump's pardon of contractors involved in killing of Iraqis

A UN Human Rights Office expert said that the pardon of the men involved in the 2007 Nisour Square massacre undermines the obligation of states to hold war criminals accountable.

Iran to 'urgently resume' gas shipments to Iraq following weeks of cutbacks

Tehran has been reducing its gas exports to Baghdad due to unpaid bills, worsening an already critical energy situation.

Daewoo fulfills Iraq’s Faw Port despite obstacles

Iraqi government voted for signing a contract with the Korean company Daewoo to finish Faw Port project.

Iraq devalues dinar to boost economy, factory production

The Central Bank of Iraq cuts the value of the dinar against the dollar in the context of policies to address Iraq's economic crisis.

PKK remains thorn in side of Turkish-Iraqi relations

The Iraqi government needs Turkey to counterbalance Iran and help alleviate Baghdad's economic problems, but the Kurdish issue, which has long strained bilateral ties, might further snag progress in economic and strategic projects.

An Iraqi woman walks past 24 September 2007, at a burnt car on the site where Blackwater guards who were escorting US embassy officials opened fire in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Yarmukh, a shootout which left, 16 September 2007, nine civilians and a policeman dead. Iraq said today that it will await the outcome of an investigation into the killing of 10 people during the shootout before taking any action against the company. AFP PHOTO/ALI YUSSEF (Photo credit should read ALI YUSSEF/AFP via Getty I

Trump pardons Blackwater contractors convicted of Iraq massacre

The incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square deeply strained US-Iraqi ties and marred the reputation of the paramilitary company.

Iraq closes land borders, restaurants with new anti-virus measures

The federal Iraqi government is also barring travelers from the UK, Iran and several other countries.

Syrian-Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and members of the Rojava Forces Defence Units walk near the town of Faysh Khabur, which lies in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region near the three-way border crossing between Iraq-Syria-Turkey on March 29, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

KRG asks US forces to deploy along Kurdish-controlled part of Iraqi-Syrian border

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s deputy chief of staff outlined why the Kurdish region's government wants US forces stationed in and around the Fish Khabur border crossing.

A general view shows the US embassy across the Tigris river in Iraq's capital Baghdad on January 3, 2020. - The US embassy in Baghdad urged American citizens in Iraq to "depart immediately", for fear of fallout from a US strike that killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [2020] instead of [2019]. Please immediately remove the erron

Iraqi government arrests suspects after rockets aimed at US Embassy

As the one-year anniversary of the killing of Iranian general Qasem Solaimani approaches, several rockets have again been shot at the US Embassy in Baghdad; suspects have been arrested.

A member of the Iraqi security forces inspects the damage outside the Zawraa park in the capital Baghdad on November 18, 2020, after volley of rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital breaking a month-long truce on attacks against the US embassy. - According to the Iraqi military, four of the rockets landed in the high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy and other foreign missions are based. Another three rockets also hit other parts of Baghdad, killing one girl and wounding five civilians. All seven r

Rockets target US Embassy in Baghdad ahead of anniversary of Soleimani killing

At least one Iraqi civilian was injured in the strike, the US State Department said.

Iraqi banks undertake overdue reforms

Iraqi banks have undertaken reforms, coinciding with the Iraqi government's measures to reform the economy.