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

Iran cover image

Iraq

June 20, 2026

Baghdad 6:18 am

34°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

Iraqi doctors under siege as they battle surge in COVID-19 cases

Doctors complain that they have been suffering violence and abuse from some families who blame medical personnel for patients' COVID-19 deaths.

Iraq's coronavirus cases top 100,000 as Baghdad airport reopens

The Health Ministry reported 2,361 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 102,226.

An Iraqi woman looks at the damage outside her house in a residential area of the capital, Baghdad, on July 13, 2015, the day after a car bomb explosion. A string of bomb explosions, including two suicide attacks, killed at least 21 people and wounded 62 in Shiite-dominated neighbourhoods of Baghdad, Iraqi police and medical sources said. AFP PHOTO / SABAH ARAR (Photo credit should read SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Serious housing crisis creeps up on Iraq

Iraq is facing a difficcult housing crisis due to oil prices dropping amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Demonstrators block a road during a protest in the southern city of Basra on July 14, 2020, as protesters gathered to denounce the lack of electricity and services. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP) (Photo by HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran's supreme leader to Iraqi PM: Iran does not interfere in Iraq-US relations

During Iraqi prime minister's trip to Iran, the two countries emphasized on building a constructive relationship based on mutual respect and national interests.

German woman 'kidnapped' in Baghdad

Baghdad-based artist Hella Mewis was reportedly abducted while riding her bike Monday evening.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi (C) speaks to locals in Tarmiyah, 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of Baghdad on July 20, 2020. (Photo by Khalid MOHAMMED / POOL / AFP) (Photo by KHALID MOHAMMED/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqi PM visits Islamic State hotbed after sniper kills general

The Iraqi prime minister stressed unity in Tarmiyah, where the Islamic State claims responsibility for killing the general.

A woman walks in between newly planted trees in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, on January 23, 2019, as the war-ravaged city gets a facelift following three years of brutal rule by the Islamic State group. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Mosul sowing seeds post-Islamic State

The Mosul local government in cooperation with civil society is undertaking a project to plant a million trees in Mosul.

Zarif's visit to Baghdad foreshadows Iraqi PM's trips to Iran and Saudi Arabia

In today's Iran media review, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Iraq for the first time since Iran’s former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the United States in January.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi speaks during a press conference in Basra on July 15, 2020, during his first visit to the southern Iraqi province. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq struggles to maintain power balance

The Iraqi government is trying hard to reduce tensions in the country and maintain a power balance between regional and international forces in order to initiate its reform plan.

Iraqis, some wearing a protective mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic, buy fresh produce from a street seller at a market in Karrada, in the capital Baghdad, on July 14, 2020. - Iraq, in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly COVID-19 illness, shut its 32 border crossings to goods and people coming from Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in mid-March, which helped its agriculture ministry accelerate a campaign to make Iraqi food markets self-sustainable, after years of relying on foreign imports fo

Closing borders due to COVID-19 revives Iraqi agriculture

Iraq's agriculture sector has been revived in the past few months, after the government closed its borders and banned the import of agricultural produce as a preventive measure against the coronavirus outbreak.

Iraq to reopen airports this month

The country is still registering around 2,000 COVID-19 cases per day, close to its highest-ever daily toll.

Intel: US squeezes Islamic State’s cash flow with new sanctions

The United States and six other countries imposed fresh sanctions today on half a dozen targets accused of helping fund the operations of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), including by funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the group’s leaders in Iraq and Syria.