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Iraq

June 20, 2026

Baghdad 4:26 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 fire and smoke rises from a wheat field on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq June 15, 2019. Picture taken June 15, 2019. REUTERS/Abdullah Rashid - RC1C2370E800

Islamic State believed behind crop fires in Iraq's disputed territories

The Islamic State is suspected of once again setting fire to farmland in the disputed Iraqi-Kurdish territories.

Kurdish Peshmerga Forces take part in their graduation ceremony at a military camp in Erbil, Iraq, August 21, 2019. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari - RC1EEC7735A0

Intel: Iraq’s Peshmerga Ministry pushes for joint security talks with Baghdad

The Peshmerga Ministry of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region said it will send a delegation to Baghdad to discuss security cooperation and the situation in the disputed territories.

Press freedom watchdog criticizes suspension of Kurdish reporter in northeast Syria

Rudaw's Vivian Fatah was suspended because she did not describe Kurdish fighters who had been killed in Syria as martyrs.

Iraqi-Syrian desert border area key amid geopolitical tensions

Recent security incidents indicate that the Islamic State continues to operate in the Iraqi-Syrian border area despite reduced capabilities.

Iraqi Kurdish officers and policemen stand at the gate of the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, that partially reopened for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan in Halabja Province, Iraq May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Saman Mahmood - RC24HG9M4JY9

Iraq reopens 2 border crossings to help boost battered Iranian economy

Two of five Iranian-Iraqi border crossings reopen for both goods and individuals, to the benefit of Iran's sanctions- and coronavirus-hit economy, and of Iraqis in the south and in the KRG-run north.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MAY 06: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY √¢ MANDATORY CREDIT - "IRAQI PARLIAMENT/ HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Iraqi PM-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi who is at the parliament for vote of confidence in Baghdad, Iraq makes a speech on May 06, 2020. Only 15 out of 22 ministers from cabinet of Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi receive vote of confidence from Iraq√¢s parliament. (Photo by Iraqi Parliament / Handout/Anadolu Agency via

Intel: Trump congratulates Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi

President Donald Trump has congratulated Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on his confirmation by Iraq’s Council of Representatives.

Mourners carry the coffin of an Iraqi demonstrator, who was killed during ongoing anti-government protests in Basra, Iraq May 11, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer - RC2DMG92E3JK

Iraq arrests pro-Iran militiamen accused of killing protester

Iraq's new prime minister, Mustafa Kadhimi, ordered the raid after protests resumed in the southern province of Basra.

Iraqi Security forces target armed groups that attacked protesters

Iraq's new government is taking a series of decisions to rein in Iran-backed militias.

Members of the new cabinet of the Kurdistan parliament headed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani pose for a family photo, in Erbil, Iraq July 10, 2019. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari - RC1B64599A60

Decentralization push sparks fears of division in Iraqi Kurdistan

Sulaimaniyah’s pursuit of enhanced self-governance has stoked concerns over the Iraqi Kurds’ hard-won unity as economic woes strain their autonomous region.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MAY 06: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY √¢ MANDATORY CREDIT - "IRAQI PARLIAMENT/ HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Iraqi PM-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi who is at the parliament for vote of confidence in Baghdad, Iraq makes a speech on May 06, 2020. Only 15 out of 22 ministers from cabinet of Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi receive vote of confidence from Iraq√¢s parliament. (Photo by Iraqi Parliament / Handout/Anadolu Agency via

Five priorities for the US-Iraq strategic dialogue include recognizing regional role for Iraq

US diplomacy during Iraqi transition sets tone for relationship.

An Iraqi soldier wears a protective face mask as he stands guard at a check point, enforcing a curfew imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Baghdad, Iraq May 3, 2020.REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani - RC26HG9KD5MD

Pentagon waiting out coronavirus to invite allies back to Iraq

The US commander of Operation Inherent Resolve hopes allied forces will return to Iraq once the COVID-19 crisis subsides.

Suicide rates increase within Iraq’s Yazidi community

The number of suicides among Iraqi Yazidis have been increasing recently, while they receive little support from local and international organizations in this regard.