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Iraq

May 9, 2026

Baghdad 2:53 pm

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Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr gives a speech in Iraq's central holy shrine city of Najaf on August 30, 2022.

Iraq’s Sadr says 'exclude' armed groups from next government as pressure builds

The cleric's call comes as Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi tries to form a government amid political divisions and US demands to curb the influence of Iran-backed actors.

Popular Mobilization Forces

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

Latest News

Analysis

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

Ali Al-Zaidi

Week in Review

By Week in Review

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.

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 Muslim (R) and a Christian Iraqi living in Jordan hold up their ink-stained index fingers after casting their ballot at a polling station at a government school in Amman March 5, 2010. Iraqis in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan started early voting ahead of the country's March 7 parliamentary election that will test Iraq's prospects for stability as U.S. troops prepare to leave. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR2B98I

EU expresses support for Iraqi, Syrian civil society

An Iraqi-Syrian civil society delegation has met with decision-making bodies in the European Union, with the latter promising assistance in efforts to confront sectarianism in these two countries.

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Rafi Essawi (R) meets with Hassan al-Shammari, head of the Iraqi Islamic al Fadila parliamentary bloc, in Baghdad October 1, 2010. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXSX67

Iraqi justice minister presses Shiite personal status law

Despite lack of support from Iraq’s Shiite religious establishment, the Jaafari personal status law has been endorsed by the cabinet and moved to parliament.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) speaks next to his Iraqi Kurdish counterpart Nechirvan Barzani during a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Arbil, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Baghdad June 9, 2013. Maliki visited the Kurdistan region on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in an attempt to resolve a long-running dispute over oil and land that has strained Iraq's unity to the limit. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX10H5T

Iraqi oil dispute reveals KRG vulnerability

There might be a short-term fix before the Iraqi elections in April, but a lasting solution on the Baghdad-Erbil hydrocarbon question is not imminent.

A staff member points at a screen showing a map of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. Crude oil flow through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline linking Iraq to Turkey restarted on Wednesday at a rate of at a rate of about 300,000-350,000 barrels per day (bpd), a Turkish energy official said. The pipeline, which carries Kirkuk crude to Turkey's Mediterranean port

Iraq’s budget problems go beyond Erbil-Baghdad crisis

As the conflict continues between Baghdad and Erbil regarding Iraqi Kurdistan's share in the state budget, there is a pressing need for the government to address other budget-related issues, namely its near total dependence on oil.

Women demonstrate against the lack of basic services in central Baghdad on Valentine's Day February 14, 2011. About 100 residents carried placards and chanted slogans demanding better basic services and a stop to corruption in the country. The placards read "Do not erect a tower, just fix the sewage" and "We need electricity power, not ministers' promises". REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR2IKXM

Valentine’s Day a day of hope in Iraq

Iraqis began celebrating Valentine’s Day after the fall of the regime of former President Saddam Hussein in 2003, but it is not just for couples — it serves as a means to express one’s love for the country.

Mourners react during a funeral of an Iraqi soldier, who was killed during clashes in Ramadi, in Najaf, 160 km (99 miles) south of Baghdad, January 10, 2014. Militants of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also fighting in neighbouring Syria, took control of Falluja and parts of nearby Ramadi on January 1 with the help of sympathetic armed tribesmen. The prospect of an imminent Iraqi army assault on Falluja receded on Friday as negotiators tried to work out a deal unde

Armed groups on rise in Anbar

The Anbar crisis is escalating to the point where people have lost their faith and trust in the army and government as sectarian fighting intensifies.

A man mourns near the body of his brother, wrapped in a blanket, who was among those killed during Sunday night's suicide bomb attack at a popular coffee shop in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km (106 miles) north of Baghdad, July 17, 2006. The attack killed 21 people, mostly elderly men. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed (IRAQ) - RTR1FKIO

Turkmen caught between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Turkmen are getting pressure from the Turkish government to work more closely with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq.

A woman walks past the site of a bomb attack in Balad Ruz, in northeastern Iraq, January 3, 2014. A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 12 people who had gathered to buy and sell cars in Iraq on Thursday, local officials said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place near the car markets in the town of Balad Ruz, in northeastern Iraq, injuring another 25 people. REUTERS/Mohammed Adnan (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) - RTX170P9

Iraq’s battle against extremists spreads outside of Anbar

Although the Iraqi government launched a military operation in Anbar in December 2013 aimed at eradicating terrorism, it seems the protracted clashes have resulted in terrorist groups expanding their scope to other provinces.

Masked Sunni Muslims gunmen take up position with their weapons during clashes with Iraqi security forces outside the city of Falluja, 70 km (44 miles) west of Baghdad, February 23, 2014. Members of the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant are holed up inside Fallujah along with Sunni fighters angry at Prime Minister Nouri Maliki over what they say are policies which discriminate against Iraq's Sunni minority. The Iraqi government declared a ceasefire over the weekend but clashes flared periodica

Iraq's failing state institutions

The Iraqi government appoints state officials on the basis of politics rather than competence, something that has led to many state projects failing without anyone being held accountable.

Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks in Najaf, 160 km (99 miles) south of Baghdad, February 18, 2014. Sadr stuck to his decision to leave political life and dissolve his movement, saying that politics had become a way to inflict injustice. Sadr, who led revolts against U.S. forces in Iraq before their pullout and became a major influence in the government, initially announced his retirement on Saturday via a handwritten statement on his website. REUTERS/Handout/Office of Moqtada al-Sadr (IRAQ - Tag

Is Muqtada al-Sadr retiring or repositioning?

After Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr declared his intention to withdraw from politics, signs suggest that it may have been a move aimed at political repositioning before the upcoming elections.

An Iraqi man holds a picture of top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani at a campaign rally for Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), which is part of the broad Shiite coalition the Iraqi National Alliance, in Baghdad March 5, 2010. Politicians launched into their last day of campaigning as more than a million Iraqis living abroad began voting in an election that could turn the page on years of deadly sectarian strife. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit sho

Sistani's critics want greater activism in Iraqi politics

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is under increasing attacks from within the Shiite religious establishment for his reserved and amicable approach.

A resident buys newspapers from a kiosk in Baghdad February 23, 2009. A boom in local media since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has given Iraqis a choice between some 200 print outlets, 60 radio stations and 30 TV channels in Arabic, Turkmen, Syriac and two Kurdish dialects. Yet most media outlets remain dominated by sectarian and party patrons who use them for their own ends, and have yet to become commercially sustainable enterprises let alone watchdogs keeping government under scrutiny, the favoured West

Iraqi journalists fear censorship after government issues arrest warrant

After an arrest warrant was issued against a prominent journalist in Iraq, renewed fear of a return to censorship has emerged among journalists and activists.