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

Iran cover image

Iraq

June 19, 2026

Baghdad 7:09 pm

42°C

Tom Barrack

Exclusive

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

Why can't Iraqis agree on national day holiday?

Seventeen years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has neither a national day nor a national anthem.

Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation units, fighting alongside Iraqi forces, head to the Makhoul mountains, north of Baiji, during a military operation against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on October 17, 2015. After recapturing parts of Baiji and the huge nearby refinery complex from the Islamic State group, security and allied paramilitary forces thrust further northward up the main highway leading to Mosul. AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit shoul

Attacks, 'unjustified' arrests mar security in southern Kirkuk

Security forces continue to be targeted in rural areas of Iraq’s Kirkuk region as locals complain of "unjustified" arrests and yet another alleged Islamic State "mufti" has been caught amid scant reporting on the ground.

Journalists are pictured in the newsroom of Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) in Sulaimaniyah city, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq on August 22, 2020. - Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq are escalating their crackdown on media outlets covering anti-government protests, journalists and rights defenders told AFP, shattering the region's reputation as a liberal refuge. (Photo by Shwan MOHAMMED / AFP) (Photo by SHWAN MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Kurdish news outlet linked to opposition party remains closed in Iraq

The Kurdistan Regional Government says NRT's coverage of protests encouraged people to violate anti-coronavirus measures, but journalists say the closure is a violation of press freedom.

Shiite Muslims take part in a mourning ritual in Iraq's central holy city of Karbala, on October 8, 2020, marking Arbaeen, the end of the 40-day mourning period for the seventh century killing of Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammed's grandson. (Photo by Mohammed SAWAF / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite COVID-19, political crisis, Iraqi Shiites march on Karbala

Shiites across southern and central Iraq are marching to Karbala for Arbaeen.

RAMADI, IRAQ - SEPTEMBER 06: U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker speaks to tribal leaders during a key development meeting between Iraqi and American government officials and Sunni sheikhs September 6, 2007 in Ramadi, Anbar Province, Iraq. Crocker speaks fluent Arabic. He and commanding General David Petraeus are due to give a report to Congress next week on the state of the war in Iraq. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The Takeaway: US should keep embassy open in Iraq despite risk, says Ryan Crocker

Former ambassador to Iraq says US needs ‘strategic patience’ in support of prime minister; Netanyahu under siege over COVID; Palestinians ready for international conference after US elections, even if Trump wins; Hamas counting on Iran and Sudan.

Corruption continues to threaten Iraq’s stability

Despite the prime minister's efforts, corruption remains a big driver of Iraq’s instability.

A picture taken on February 5, 2019, shows a general view of the damaged buildings in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar. - For decades in the mountainous region of Sinjar in Iraq's diverse north, the lives of many revolved around their lands, but now many Sunni Arab farmers are estranged from their fields out of fear of reprisal attacks. The region, which borders Syria is home to an array of communities -- Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and Yazidis -- which formed a patchwork that was ripped apart when the

Turkey targets Yazidi militia in Iraq over PKK links

The Sinjar Resistance Units have been targeted by Turkish forces in Iraq for its connection with the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Suicide rate among youth on the rise in Iraq

Suicide has been on the rise among Iraqi youth, who face a pandemic, high unemployment and a volatile political situation.

STEPANAKERT, NAGORNO-KARABAKH - OCTOBER 2: Journalists take pictures and video of a crater left by a bomb that fell outside a fire station on October 2, 2020 in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. A decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has reignited in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized by most countries as part of Azerbaijan, but controlled by ethnic Armenians since a 1994 ceasefire. Dozens have been reported killed in the recent fighting, in which both countries blame the other

Did Erdogan approve Azerbaijan escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh?

The Turkish president is the author of a militarized regional policy that now stretches from the Caucuses to Libya.

Iraqi Yazidis burn incense during the funeral of Baba Sheikh Khurto Hajji Ismail (image), supreme spiritual leader of the Yazidi religious minority, in the Iraqi town of Sheikhan, 50km northeast of Mosul, on October 2, 2020. - Iraq's Yazidi minority laid to rest their spiritual leader today as tributes poured in for the man who guided his flock through the horrors of Islamic State group occupation.
Baba Sheikh Khurto Hajji Ismail died late yesterday at the age of 87, his office said. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED /

Yazidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh dies at 87

Nobel laureate Nadia Murad described him as "a beacon of light."

Iraqi demonstrators carry the portraits of slain protesters during a demonstration in Tahrir Square in the centre of Iraq's capital Baghdad on October 1, 2020, commemorating the first anniversary of the massive decentralised anti-government protest movement against unemployment, poor public services, and endemic corruption. - Back in October 2019, unprecedented protests demanded the fall of Iraq's ruling class. One year on, with a new government in place and nearly 600 protesters killed, almost nothing has

Iraqi protests hit one year mark

On the anniversary of the start of Iraq's massive protests, Iraqis are preparing for a new wave of demonstrations in Baghdad and other cities.

Rockets land in Erbil as US threatens embassy pullout

Iraqi Kurdistan’s counterterrorism service said the rockets were fired by paramilitary groups in Ninevah province in northern Iraq.