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Iraq

May 8, 2026

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US sets expectations for Iraq’s next PM to confront Iranian militias

The Trump administration is cautiously sizing up Iraq’s new prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, as a potential partner in pushing back on Iranian influence.

Zaidi

Analysis

Iraq’s Zaidi offers economic promise for Turkey but unknowns loom

Iraq’s prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, is expected to sustain growing economic and strategic ties with Turkey thanks to his business-oriented approach, though uncertainty over his political stance could test cooperation on sensitive issues.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Ali Al-Zaidi

Analysis

US banking on Iraqi turnaround with nomination of Zaidi as new PM

Trump signals hope for a "tremendous new chapter” in US-Iraq ties with the nomination of Ali Al-Zaidi as prime minister.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Latest News

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Trump congratulates Iraq PM-designate Zaidi in call: What to know

Iraq's prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, at Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office on April 28, 2026.

Meet Ali al-Zaidi, businessman and Iraq's new prime minister-designate

Prime Minister Mohammed S. al-Sudani met with Prime Minister-designate Ali Faleh al-Zaidi on April 28, 2026.

Iraq's Shiite alliance nominates Ali al-Zaidi as PM candidate: What to know

Ali al-Zaidi

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

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) meets with Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in Ankara July 30, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1252R

Turkey downplays IS threat, but concerns grow

As the Islamic state draws closer to the Turkish border and Ankara struggles to overcome its differences with the Iraqi administration, Turkey may be left to face the jihadist threat on its own.

U.S. President Barack Obama talks about the humanitarian relief situation in Iraq, at the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington August 7, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR41N39

US airstrikes alone will not defeat IS

The US militarily intervention in Iraq will be limited, according to President Barack Obama.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iraq's acting Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi (R) during a meeting in Moscow July 27, 2014 in this handout provided by Iraq Ministry of Defence. Picture taken July 27, 2014. REUTERS/Iraq Ministry of Defence/Handout via Reuters (RUSSIA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT F

Moscow sees opportunity in Iraq instability

Moscow is continuing arms sales to Iraq and pursuing a policy that may allow it to weaken US influence in the country.

Sheikh Abdul Mehdi Al-Karbala'i speaks as he delivers the text of a sermon by Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, during Friday prayers at the Imam Hussein shrine in the holy city of Kerbala August 8, 2014. Sistani called again on compatriots on Friday to unite against the "big danger" posed by Islamic State militants, whose advances prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to authorise limited bombing. In a weekly Friday sermon delivered through the spokesman in the sacred Shi'ite city of

Feeling heat, Maliki warns Sistani against opposing third term

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani hinted at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s intention to seek a third term, saying that Iraqi officials should not cling to their positions in power.

Shiite Muslim Ahmad Safi, the representative of Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, gives a sermon at the Imam Hussein mosque during the Friday prayer on June 20, 2014 in the Shrine city of Karbala in central Iraq. Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for the country's next government to be "effective" and avoid past mistakes, in an implicit criticism of the embattled incumbent premier. AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED SAWAF (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED

Najaf takes in Christians displaced by Islamic State

The religious authorities in Najaf and Karbala showed their support to displaced minorities, notably Christians from Mosul, and expressed their readiness to offer their help.

Mourners pray during a funeral in Kirkuk, June 23, 2014. About 15 Iraqi Turkmen Shi'ites were killed by militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Tuz Khurmato, relatives of the deceased said. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3VAT2

Mental health a concern for displaced Iraqis

Humanitarian organizations and residents of Babil have been providing material assistance to displaced persons from Kirkuk, but many of the displaced continue to suffer from psychological trauma.

Residents inspect damage at a site which activists said was caused by a suicide bomber in the middle of a market last night in Tirbespiye village, east Qamishli, June 15, 2014. Activists claim that 14 people died due to the explosion, seven of them are Arab and the other seven are Kurds, while 25 were injured. REUTERS/Massoud Mohammed (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3TWNH

Kurdish security chief: Turkey must end support for jihadists

The head of the Syrian Kurdish security police forces, Ciwan Ibrahim, tells Al-Monitor that they are willing to cooperate with Turkey if it halts its support for jihadist groups.

A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held crisis talks with leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday urging them to stand with Baghdad in the face of a Sunni insurgent onslaught that threatens to dismember the country. Picture taken June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3VIB1

Turkey wakes up to Islamic State threat

An inflammatory sermon in Istanbul has made Turkey realize that the Islamic State has become a serious threat to its internal security and stability.

A view of damaged houses during a patrol in the city of Ramadi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Baghdad, May 5, 2014. Iraqi forces are locked in a four-month fight with al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. Picture taken May 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTR3O0MV

8 months in, clashes in Anbar continue

Houses and shops have been completely destroyed in Anbar as a result of the clashes between the Iraqi army and members of armed factions.

Iraqi Kurds read newspapers at a newspaper stand in Arbil, northern
Iraq, Febuary 19, 2003. Iraqi Kurds in the breakaway enclave of
northern Iraq said they had arrested Iraqi agents threatening the
safety of opposition leaders gathering to plan for the future of Iraq
if the United States topples Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

CJF - RTRIL1S

Independent media fades in Iraqi Kurdistan

The proliferation of independent media organizations in Iraqi Kurdistan in the early 2000s is reversing as political parties invest heavily in media outlets while intimidating independent journalists.

Armed tribal fighters take part in a mission to secure an area from militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), in the Hamrin mountains in Diyala province July 25, 2014. Picture taken July 25, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR409ZG

Iraqi volunteers ill-prepared to fight IS

Volunteer fighters are signing up en masse to join the "righteous jihad" against the Islamic State in the name of nationalism and economic opportunity.

New Kurdish Prime Minister Bahram Salih takes an oath after his election by parliament to take office, in Abril, 310 km (190 miles north of Baghdad October 28, 2009. After Kurdish parliamentary elections in July that kept the region's two major parties in power, Kurdish lawmakers have picked Iraq's former deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, to head the new government. Analysts say the move may bring a more cordial tone to tense ties between Kurds and majority Arabs in Baghdad. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ

Why Barham Salih isn't Iraq's new president

Internal politics led to the selection of Fouad Massoum as the Kurdish candidate instead of Barham Salih.