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Iraq

October 29, 2026

Baghdad 3:47 pm

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Iraq's Zaidi meets Sharaa on first Syria visit: What to know

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has sought to assuage concerns about his past militant activity in Iraq, whose oil trade and security cooperation with his two country is rising.

Safin HAMID / AFP via Getty Images

Iran says deal reached with Iraq to expel Kurdish separatists: What to know

Iran said an agreement was reached with Iraq to expel or hand over members of Kurdish separatist groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Trucks loaded with goods wait to cross over to Syria

Analysis

How Hormuz crisis is reshaping economic ties between Iraq and Syria

Iraq and Syria are expanding trade and energy cooperation, but security risks, economic challenges and longstanding mistrust raise questions about whether their growing partnership can endure.

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Oct. 14, 2026, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Iraq’s Zaidi, Saudi crown prince discuss security as Houthi attacks escalate

Iraq has moved to improve ties with Saudi Arabia after Iran-backed militias struck the kingdom and amid the conflict with the Houthis in Yemen.

Latest News

Explainer

PKK pulls out of Metina in northern Iraq amid Turkey peace process

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters arrive in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on May 14, 2013, after leaving Turkey as part of a peace drive with Ankara.

Analysis

Why Syria and Iraq are taking different approaches to armed groups

Demonstrators ride through a street while waving Syrian flags

Shelly Kittleson

By Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Iraq devalues dinar 13% as Hormuz disruption hits oil revenue

A man walks past a closed foreign exchange office in Baghdad on October 7, 2026. Iraq's central bank devalued the dinar currency against the dollar on October 7, with the country facing a deepening crisis brought on by the Middle East war. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

What Iraq’s US troop withdrawal means for security after Kirkuk killings

A member of the Iraqi security forces flashes the victory sign during a military parade

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

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.

Iraqi Christians on a spiritual pilgrimage to the birthplace of biblical patriarch Abraham visit the ruins of Ur, southern Nassiriya province, about 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, November 22, 2013. About 150 Christians from the southern Iraqi city of Basra took part in the pilgrimage to the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, revered as the birthplace of Abraham. Picture taken November 22, 2013. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION TRAVEL) - RTX15SNW

Iraq moves to preserve Christian heritage, Syriac language

In light of the mass exodus of Christians from Iraq following the 2003 war, the government has initiated steps to teach Christian religious studies and the Syriac language in some public schools.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - JUNE 6: Dr. Ali Bayrakdar, a plastic surgeon at the Al Wasity Hospital , performs an operation on June 6, 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq. Bayrakdar is a specialist in reconstructive surgery and has done some pioneering work in his field. He and his team deal primarily with wounds sustained through the ongoing violence in Iraq and perform under severely strained conditions with inadequate medical facilities. An average doctor in his position can expect to earn around $350 to $400 a month. Bayrakdar'

Rising rate of plastic surgeries sparks debate in Iraq

Plastic surgery is on the rise in Iraq as more and more young women rebel against conservative social norms and traditions.

Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, waits for a meeting of the Iraqi National Council to recommence in Baghdad. Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, waits for a meeting of the Iraqi National Council to recommence in Baghdad September 4, 2004. An Iraqi Islamist group has said it tried to assassinate Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi this week and that four men died in the attack, Al Jazeera television said on Saturday. REUTERS/Samir Mizban/Pool - RTR9YVG

Chalabi: Anbar crisis sign of 'political failure' in Iraq

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Ahmed Chalabi shares his views on the upcoming elections, the economy and the de-Baathification law.

A tanker sails in Mediterranean past a jetty at the Ceyhan crude oil terminal near Turkey's southern coastal city of Adana, July 13, 2006. A four-billion dollar project, Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, to carry oil from the Caspian Sea fields to western markets is inaugurated on Thursday in Ceyhan, southern Turkey. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1FGD4

Turkey defers to Baghdad on oil from Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has been conducting shuttle diplomacy between Baghdad and Ankara to facilitate an agreement.

Painted eggs and dried flowers decorate doorway in the Lalish temple
some 50 km north of Mosul, May 11, 2003. The Yezidi religion, seen by
its followers as the original Kurdish faith, is believed to date back
several thousand years and blends ideas from sources as diverse as
Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
REUTERS

SZH/AS - RTRNBOT

Iraqis welcome Interfaith Harmony Week

As Iraq welcomed Interfaith Harmony Week at the beginning of February, there is a need to separate religion from state and reform school curricula in the country.

Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (C) takes part in Friday prayers participated by Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim worshippers in a gesture of unity at the Abdul Qadir Gilani Mosque in Baghdad January 4, 2013. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION) - RTR3C3HZ

Sadr's sudden retirement shakes up Iraqi politics

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of a major Iraqi Shiite force, shocked the country by dissolving most of his political operation.

Residents walk past an election poster promoting Nada al-Sudani (R) and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, in Baghdad February 12, 2010. Nada al-Sudani will be running as a candidate of the State of Law party during the March 7 parliamentary poll. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR2A4ZB

Iraq’s politics of posters

A proliferation of political posters, especially of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as Iraq gears up for elections, brings back memories from Saddam Hussein's era.

A mass wedding organised by the government takes place in Baghdad
October 15, 2001. Many Iraqis opt for a mass marriage due to economic
restrictions. REUTERS/ Faleh Kheiber REUTERS

FK/FMS - RTRO628

Underage marriages growing in Iraqi cities

"Uneven" and underage marriage in Iraq, a long-standing tradition among rural communities, is now spreading to the cities and is accepted by many.