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Iraq

July 1, 2026

Baghdad 8:33 pm

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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

Killing of Sunni youths prompts calls for end to impunity in Iraq

The killing of at least eight Sunni youths from a village in Iraq’s Salahuddin province, allegedly by groups other than the Islamic State, has sparked outcry and demands for non-local forces to be expelled from the region.

Supporters of Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi paramilitary network dominated by Iran-backed factions, wave the Hashed flag as they stand under the national flag during a protest denouncing comments made by Kurdish ex-minister and to show their support to the paramilitary network in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on October 17, 2020. - Hashed supporters burned down the main Kurdish party's headquarters in Baghdad after criticism from a Iraq's Former Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. Hundreds of Hashed demonstrat

Iraqi militias defy government, expand networks and pressure

Militias in Iraq are increasing their activities in response to the government's efforts to rein them in.

Iraqi cleric pushes for elections, new social contract, in support of prime minister

Iraqi cleric Ammar al-Hakim, the head of Iraqioun parliamentary bloc and Hikma movement, is seeking to chart a nonsectarian alternative to the existing political structure.

Baghdad, Erbil reach security, administrative agreement on Sinjar district

The deal will address major security and structural obstacles, but local communities criticize the accord for failing to bring their people to the table.

Yazidi students achieve highest marks in Iraq entrance exams to universities

Despite difficulties in refugee camps, Yazidi students achieved the highest marks on the entrance exams to Iraqi universities.

Why can't Iraqis agree on national day holiday?

Seventeen years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has neither a national day nor a national anthem.

Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation units, fighting alongside Iraqi forces, head to the Makhoul mountains, north of Baiji, during a military operation against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on October 17, 2015. After recapturing parts of Baiji and the huge nearby refinery complex from the Islamic State group, security and allied paramilitary forces thrust further northward up the main highway leading to Mosul. AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit shoul

Attacks, 'unjustified' arrests mar security in southern Kirkuk

Security forces continue to be targeted in rural areas of Iraq’s Kirkuk region as locals complain of "unjustified" arrests and yet another alleged Islamic State "mufti" has been caught amid scant reporting on the ground.

Journalists are pictured in the newsroom of Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) in Sulaimaniyah city, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq on August 22, 2020. - Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq are escalating their crackdown on media outlets covering anti-government protests, journalists and rights defenders told AFP, shattering the region's reputation as a liberal refuge. (Photo by Shwan MOHAMMED / AFP) (Photo by SHWAN MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Kurdish news outlet linked to opposition party remains closed in Iraq

The Kurdistan Regional Government says NRT's coverage of protests encouraged people to violate anti-coronavirus measures, but journalists say the closure is a violation of press freedom.

Shiite Muslims take part in a mourning ritual in Iraq's central holy city of Karbala, on October 8, 2020, marking Arbaeen, the end of the 40-day mourning period for the seventh century killing of Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammed's grandson. (Photo by Mohammed SAWAF / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite COVID-19, political crisis, Iraqi Shiites march on Karbala

Shiites across southern and central Iraq are marching to Karbala for Arbaeen.

RAMADI, IRAQ - SEPTEMBER 06: U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker speaks to tribal leaders during a key development meeting between Iraqi and American government officials and Sunni sheikhs September 6, 2007 in Ramadi, Anbar Province, Iraq. Crocker speaks fluent Arabic. He and commanding General David Petraeus are due to give a report to Congress next week on the state of the war in Iraq. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The Takeaway: US should keep embassy open in Iraq despite risk, says Ryan Crocker

Former ambassador to Iraq says US needs ‘strategic patience’ in support of prime minister; Netanyahu under siege over COVID; Palestinians ready for international conference after US elections, even if Trump wins; Hamas counting on Iran and Sudan.

Corruption continues to threaten Iraq’s stability

Despite the prime minister's efforts, corruption remains a big driver of Iraq’s instability.

A picture taken on February 5, 2019, shows a general view of the damaged buildings in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar. - For decades in the mountainous region of Sinjar in Iraq's diverse north, the lives of many revolved around their lands, but now many Sunni Arab farmers are estranged from their fields out of fear of reprisal attacks. The region, which borders Syria is home to an array of communities -- Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and Yazidis -- which formed a patchwork that was ripped apart when the

Turkey targets Yazidi militia in Iraq over PKK links

The Sinjar Resistance Units have been targeted by Turkish forces in Iraq for its connection with the Kurdistan Workers Party.