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Iraq

April 17, 2025

Baghdad 9:02 pm

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oil field

After steep fall, oil prices slightly recover following Trump tariff pause

Over the last week, oil prices have plummeted amid the escalating trade war between the United States and China.

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.

Latest News

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

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.

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

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

NORTHEASTERN SYRIA - MAY 26: U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter gunners scan the desert while transporting troops on May 26, 2021 over northeastern Syria. U.S. forces, part of Task Force WARCLUB operate from remote combat outposts in northeastern Syria, coordinating with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in combatting residual ISIS extremists and deterring pro-Iranian militia. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

US launches new airstrikes against IRGC facility in Syria as attacks continue

US F-15s bombed a facility in eastern Syria as the Pentagon's Middle East policy director openly warned that the US military may target Iranian IRGC personnel in a bid to halt militia attacks on American troops.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Nov. 6, 2023.

Iran's Khamenei urges Iraq PM to pressure US over Gaza

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's Tehran visit came only one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Baghdad, amid an uptick in Iran-backed militia attacks on US bases in the region in response to Israel's war on Hamas.

A picture taken on Jan. 13, 2020, during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group, shows a view inside Ain al-Asad military air base

New attacks hit US bases in Iraq, Syria as Iran ups threats over Gaza

White House and Pentagon officials have said they will hold Iran accountable for attacks on US bases by Iranian proxies.

NINEVEH, IRAQ - JUNE 20: Iraqi PMF fighters June 20, 2017 on the Iraq-Syria border in Nineveh, Iraq. The Popular Mobilisation Front (PMF) forces, composed of majority Shi'ite militia, part of the Iraqi forces, have pushed Islamic State militants from the north-western Iraq border strip back into Syria. The PMF now hold the border, crucial to the fall of Islamic State in Mosul, blocking the Islamic State supply route for militants from Syria to Mosul. (Martyn Aim/Getty Images).

No consensus yet among Iraqi armed groups on joining Israel-Hamas war

Interviews with faction leaders reveal anger with Hamas over starting a unilateral conflict, but also a determination to get involved if Hezbollah greenlights such a move and Israel invades Gaza.

Iraqi security forces stand guard at the site of a newly-unearthed Assyrian Lamassu (human-headed winged bull) sculpture discovered with its entire wings intact by the French archaeological mission at the archaeological site of Khorsabad (also known as Dur-Sharrukin), the former Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II (721705 BC) in Iraq's northern Nineveh province on October 24, 2023. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo by ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq unveils ancient Assyrian lamassu statue in Nineveh province

The Iraqi government has worked to repatriate smuggled artifacts in recent years. The city of Khorsabad, where the lamassu is located, was one of several ancient sites targeted by the Islamic State.

In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, South Korean Navy's destroyer Yulgok Yi I (C), U.S. Navy's USS Benfold (R) and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's JS Atago (L) sail in formation during a joint naval exercise in international waters on April 17, 2023 at an undisclosed location. South Korea, the United States and Japan held a trilateral missile defense exercise in the international waters on Monday, Seoul's Navy said, amid stepped-up efforts to sharpen deterrence against N

US destroyer shoots down cruise missiles by Iran-backed Houthis

Iran-backed factions appeared to break several months of detente with US forces in the Middle East this week by launching drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea, Iraq and Syria amid Israel's war in Gaza, throwing the Pentagon's deterrence efforts into question.

Military drone

US troops shoot down third drone over Iraq as Biden visits Israel

Coalition personnel suffered minor injuries after a thwarted drone attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq's Anbar province, as Iran-backed factions continue threats to attack US forces over Washington's support for Israel's war in Gaza.

Iraqis hold portait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and shout slogans during a demonstration near the suspension bridge leading to Baghdad's Green Zone and the US Embassy in Baghdad on October 18, 2023, protesting a strike on a Gaza hospital which killed hundreds a day earlier. Thousands rallied across the Arab and Muslim world on October 18 to protest the deaths of hundreds of people in a strike on a Gaza hospital that they blame on Israel, despite its denials. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE

Anti-US slogans, photos of Iran's Khamenei on display in Iraq's pro-Gaza protests

US forces in Iraq said they have come under fire as anger spreads in the Arab world over the deadly Gaza hospital explosion. Arab governments condemned Israel for the incident, but the United States maintains that a Palestinian group was likely responsible.

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Turkey extends mandate for military operations in Syria, Iraq

The Turkish parliament’s extension of the mandate for another two years comes amid rising tensions between Turkey and the United States.

Smoke billows from the Babasi oil facility in the countryside of al-Qahtaniya in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province on October 6, 2023 following a Turkish strike. (Photo by Delil souleiman / AFP) / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Delil souleiman has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [BABASI] instead of [BASBASI]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your serve

Turkey escalates airstrikes in Syria, but will it cross US, Russia red lines?

The likelihood of a fresh Turkish ground offensive in northern Syria appears to weaken after the unprecedented shooting down of a Turkish drone by the United States.

People watch a water curtain fountain at the Boulevard entertainment city in Riyadh on August 29, 2023. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP) (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

China builds reach by backing Middle East water projects

In its latest financial deal, China has agreed to provide a new credit facility to expand Saudi Arabia's water generation and power portfolio.

PM Sudani

Al-Monitor/Semafor summit: Iraq’s Sudani says 'solution is in Baghdad’ to issues with KRG

The prime minister also pleaded for more US investment in Iraq’s energy sector amid the oil dispute with Turkey, and addressed Iraq’s balancing act between the United States and Iran.