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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

A boy receives treatment after being injured in a shelling, at a hospital in the city of Falluja, 70 km (43 miles) west of Baghdad February 12, 2014. ISIL militants and other Sunni groups angered by the Shi'ite-led government overran Falluja and parts of the nearby city of Ramadi in the western province of Anbar on January 1. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX18OUC

Iraq's Fallujah General Hospital caught in crossfire

The hospital in Fallujah has been targeted on numerous occasions during the fighting there, says a local doctor as Human Rights Watch releases a report on the matter.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks with Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil during a news conference in Beirut May 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RFF8

Lebanon’s Christians react to crisis in Mosul

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has taken up the cause of the uprooted Christians of Iraq, calling on international organizations to intervene.

Sheikh Ali Hatem Sulaiman, head of the Dulaimi tribe, which dominates Ramadi and the sprawling desert province of Anbar, walks after the end of the a news conference in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, May 13, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3ZVR3

Baghdad seethes as Erbil hosts revolutionary tribal conference

A revolutionary tribal leaders conference was held in Erbil, stirring harsh criticism from Baghdad that these armed groups are working with the Islamic State.

Islamic State urges Turkish businessmen to return to Iraq

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Turkey's economy minister says that in addition to IS prompting Turkish businessmen to return to Iraq, trade with Israel remains unaffected despite the current crisis, and 2015 will see an increase in exports and decrease in deficit.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) speaks next to speaker of parliament Salim al-Jabouri during a news conference after their meeting with in Baghdad July 26, 2014. Gunmen in army uniforms have seized a senior local official and prominent member of a Sunni Islamist party from his Baghdad home, police and security officials said on Saturday. It was not clear if Riyadh al-Adhdah, who heads Baghdad's Provincial Council and belongs to the Sunni Islamist Iraqi Islamic Party, had been kidnapped by militiamen

Maliki furious over Jordan-hosted Sunni opposition conference

The Iraqi opposition conference held in Jordan put the kingdom in an awkward position with Iraq's prime minister, but some in Iraq called for considering its resolutions because they reflect actual Sunni demands.

Aleppo’s rebels struggle to hold on as regime, IS advance

Rebels in Aleppo say they are preparing a counterattack to recover the vital Sheikh Najjar Industrial City, which was captured by regime forces early this month.

People walk through the rubble of the Prophet Younis Mosque after it was destroyed in a bomb attack by militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the city of Mosul, July 24, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR400PA

Islamic State destroys sacred shrine in Mosul

The shrine of Prophet Jonah was held as sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Does Iraq's president hold any real power?

Iraqis are watching to see if new President Fouad Massoum will take the initiative and restore the privileges of the president’s position.

A white dove perches near a cross atop a church in Telkaif near Mosul, in the province of Nineveh, July 20, 2014. The head of Iraq's largest church said on Sunday that Islamic State militants who drove Christians out of Mosul were worse than Mongol leader Genghis Khan and his grandson Hulagu who ransacked medieval Baghdad. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako led a wave of condemnation for the Sunni Islamists who demanded Christians either convert, submit to their radical rule and pay a religious

Stop violence in the name of religion

Religious leaders unite in a joint appeal against acts of violence in Mosul and across the region.

Residents shop at a market in the city of Mosul, June 24, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday to stand with Baghdad in the face of a Sunni insurgent onslaught that threatens to dismember the country. Picture taken June 24, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT BUSINESS SOCIETY) - RTR3VNJC

Iran dominates Iraqi market after occupation of Mosul

Doors closed to the markets of Turkey and Syria after militants took the town of Mosul, leading to a jump in prices for consumers, but a surge in imported Iranian goods could plug the gaps.

Smoke from a raging fire as a crude oil pipeline dwarfs a tree near Bayji,
some 40 km (25 miles) north of Tikrit, September 18, 2003. The cause of the
fire, which broke out on Wednesday night, is yet to be ascertained. The
pipilene is one of the main pipelines to carry crude oil from the northern
Iraqi city of Kirkuk to the export pipeline. NO RIGHTS CLEARANCES OR PERMISSIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS IMAGE REUTERS/Arko
Datta

AD/ - RTR37AO

Echoes of apocalypse in Iraq conflict

Conflictingn parties' view of the current crisis in Iraq is affected by their own religious views and interpretation of the end of times.

People walk past a banner (in black and white) belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the city of Mosul, June 28, 2014. Since early June, ISIL militants have overrun most majority Sunni Muslim areas in the north and west of Iraq, capturing the biggest northern city Mosul and late dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. The banner reads, "There is no God but God, and Mohammad is his messenger." REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3W71S

Why Islamic State is no al-Qaeda clone

The announcement by the Islamic State of the caliphate and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s self-proclamation as the caliph sets IS apart from Al-Qaeda.