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Iraq

July 1, 2026

Baghdad 4:16 pm

44°C

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

Here's what to know about Iraq's corruption as Zaidi launches crackdown

Watchdogs and financial institutions regard Iraq as a significantly corrupt country as the new prime minister works to recover public funds.

aqi security personnel patrol in a vehicle along a street in Baghdad on June 28, 2026.

Analysis

Iraqi PM’s anti-corruption drive comes as US pressure mounts on Iran-backed militias

Iraq’s new prime minister has launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign ahead of key talks in Washington, but analysts say the real test will be whether it reaches Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed actors.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

A worker at a market for fuel oil and automotive fuel on March 17, 2026, in Erbil, Iraq.

Explainer

After UAE and Qatar, could Iraq be next to leave OPEC?

Iraq is seeking a higher production quota as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has slashed oil revenues and plunged the country into a fiscal crisis.

Latest News

Iraq taps Krikor Der-Hagopian as first Armenian Christian ambassador to US

Krikor Der-Hagopian at the 9th Sulaimani Forum, in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, on April 16, 2025.

Exclusive

Barrack heads to Iraq as US presses Baghdad on Iran-backed militias

Tom Barrack

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Culture

World Cup opens amid visa disputes for Iran, Iraq and Somalia

Members of the Iranian national soccer team including midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh (R) arrive at Tijuana International Airport on June 7, 2026, in Tijuana, Mexico.

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

International court finds UK war crimes in Iraq but will not open investigation

The International Criminal Court has closed its probe because it could not conclude that UK authorities were unwilling to genuinely carry out an investigation.

Dozens killed, injured in Iraq’s Kurdistan protests as some consider leaving

Protests in the southeastern part of the Kurdistan Region over unpaid public sector salaries amid an ongoing budget dispute with Baghdad have led to several deaths.

Death toll mounts as Iraqi Kurdish protests continue

The unrest in Iraq's northern Sulaimaniyah province has left at least nine people dead.

Supporters of Iraq's Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrate in Tahrir Square in Baghdad on November 27, 2020. - Tens of thousands of supporters of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered in the Iraqi capital in a show of political power, as the legislative elections are scheduled for next June. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqi government presses ahead with early elections next year

The Iraqi government is striving to make the legal and political preparations for elections in June 2021, amid multiple political and security challenges.

Iraq’s president urges end to violence in protest-hit Sulaimaniyah

Iraqi President Barham Salih weighed in on the increasingly violent protests that have gripped the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

TOPSHOT - A view shows the ravaged al-Idara al-Mahalia stadium, which was once used by Islamic State group fighters as a weapons depot, near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on October 22, 2020. - Jihadi fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group seized Mosul in 2014, later expanding its so-called 'caliphate' to over a third of Iraq and into neighbouring Syria. In 2017, Iraqi and coalition forces forced the hardened insurgents out in a grinding urban battle that left the ancient city in ruins. The bullet-ri

Egypt wins strong foothold in Iraq’s reconstruction

Millions of Egyptian workers may benefit from their government's involvement in Iraq’s massive reconstruction process.

Iraqi government considers sales tax to relieve budget crisis

Iraq is mulling the possibility of imposing a sales tax amid concerns over the consequences of such a move on Iraqis already struggling in a down economy.

Egyptian soldiers stand guard during an organised tour for diplomats to mark the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the Suez Canal, in the northeastern city of Ismailia on November 17, 2019. - One hundred and fifty years after the Suez Canal opened, the international waterway is hugely significant to the economy of modern-day Egypt, which nationalised it in 1956. The canal, dug in the 19th century using "rudimentary tools" and which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, was opened to navigation in 1

Egypt, Iraq deepen defense ties

Egypt and Iraq are expanding defense industry ties in a sign of deepening engagement among Cairo, Baghdad and Amman.

Shiite factions close to Sistani move to separate from Iran-backed militias

Brigades close to top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani announced the formation of a mobilization force affiliated with the chief of staff of the Iraqi armed forces, rather than Iran.

Muqtada Sadr is preparing a bid to gain Iraq’s prime minister position

The populist cleric appears to be gearing up for the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for June 2021 in a bid to win the premiership.

The remains of carved feet of a "Lamassu" statue, an Assyrian deity often depicted as a winged-bull with a human head, stands inside the destroyed museum of Mosul on April 2, 2017 after Iraqi forces recaptured it from Islamic State (IS) group fighters.
Iraqi forces seized the museum from IS on March 7 as they pushed into west Mosul as part of a vast offensive to oust the jihadists from the northern city. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD GHARABLI (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Scarred but still standing, Mosul museum reopens at last

Ninevah’s renowned cultural heritage museum, known for the Islamic State's disastrous attack on its treasures, has finally reopened to the public.

Activists fear Iraqi cybercrime law could limit press freedoms

The Iraqi cybercrime bill makes a reappearance amid widespread objections by civilians and activists who label it as repressive of freedoms and rights guaranteed in the Iraqi Constitution.