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Iraq

October 22, 2026

Baghdad 1:29 pm

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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.

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.

Explainer

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

The withdrawal comes as the peace process between Turkey and the militant group gains momentum alongside increasing security cooperation between Ankara and Baghdad.

Latest News

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

Analysis

After US exit, Iran gains space in Iraq and a harder balancing act

Members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitary forces stand guard during an election rally for the "Asaib Ahl al-Haq" movement in the capital Baghdad, on October 7, 2021.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

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

An Iranian cleric chants slogans as they gather to mourn during the forty days memorial, after the killing of Iran's Quds Force top commander Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a U.S. air strike at Baghdad airport, at the "Valley of Peace" cemetery in Najaf, Iraq February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani - RC2BYE9HRC06

Pro-Iran militias in Iraq wage 'fake news' campaign against US

Several pro-Iran militias have lately claimed responsibility for attacking US forces in Iraq, but examining their media activities indicates they are probably fake groups created by existing militias to show strength without taking the risk of ramifications.

A healthcare worker takes blood samples from a woman during testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sadr city, district of Baghdad, Iraq May 21, 2020. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani - RC21TG9DOH2Z

Iraq registers dramatic jump in COVID-19 cases

There were 416 new confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus in Iraq today.

A Turkish F-16 fighter jet takes off from Incirlik airbase in the southern city of Adana, Turkey, July 27, 2015. To match Insight TURKEY-SECURITY/AIRFORCE REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo - S1AEULZGSTAA

Turkey conducts rare strike in Iraq's Sulaimaniyah province against PKK

Most Turkey-PKK fighting takes place in other parts of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where Turkey has military bases.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a news conference with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio in Rome, Italy, October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Alberto Lingria - RC1FD9F23680

Intel: US, Italy to co-host virtual meeting of anti-IS coalition

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Italian counterpart, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, will co-host a virtual meeting for members of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State on June 4, the State Department announced today.

Gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei waves a rainbow flag during a rally to support the upcoming same-sex marriage referendum, in Taipei, Taiwan November 18, 2018. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu - RC1650EE2B70

Rainbow flags over Baghdad fan debate, spur fear

In what both progressive and conservative critics considered a tone-deaf step to support Iraq’s LGBTQ community, several Western embassies’ raising of the rainbow flag did not have its intended effects.

TOPSHOT - Relatives of farmer Hamad al-Ibrahim clean his damaged land in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz on March 13, 2020, a year after the fall of the Islamic State's (IS) caliphate. - A year after the last black flag of the Islamic State group was lowered in the Syrian village of Baghouz, traces of the jihadist group are still all around this small and remote village near the Iraqi border, where Kurdish fighters and the US-led coalition declared the IS proto-state defeated in March 2019 after a bli

Coalition airstrike kills Islamic State leader in eastern Syria, Iraq says

Mu'taz Numan 'Abd Nayif Najm al-Jaburi was killed in a coalition-led airstrike, Iraq's intelligence services said.

Iraqis walk at a luna park empty in the northern iraqi city of Mosul on May 25, 2020 on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday which starts at the conclusion of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, after months of closure due to the coronavirus Covid-19 lockdown. - Muslims around the world began marking a sombre Eid al-Fitr, many under coronavirus lockdown, but lax restrictions offered respite to worshippers in some countries despite fears of skyrocketing infections. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP)

Iraq registers jump in COVID-19 cases during Eid al-Fitr holiday

The Iraqi authorities said there were 163 confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday, which was greater than the number in a single day that prompted lockdowns in Baghdad last week.

An Iraqi fighter with the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces) inspects the site of the Islamic State (IS) group attack, a day earlier, on a unit of the paramilitary force in Mukaishefah, about 180km (110 miles) north of the capital, on May 3, 2020. - IS group remnants in Iraq are exploiting a coronavirus lockdown, coalition troop withdrawals and simmering political disputes to ramp up deadly attacks, according to analysts and intelligence officials, the bloodiest so far being an ambush early on M

Kirkuk tribesmen rally as IS launch new wave of attacks

As Islamic State sleeper cells continue to carry out attacks south and west of oil-rich Kirkuk, local tribesmen made efforts to show unity while other factions showed off "resistance" to the United States and Israel.

Iraq to launch investigations against killing of protesters

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadimi announced the formation of an investigation committee to look into the killings of Iraqi protesters.

Inscribed stone, giving an account of the Great Flood, Epic of Gilgamesh tablet, from Nineveh, illustration from the magazine The Illustrated London News, volume LXIII, November 15, 1873.

New York court orders Gilgamesh tablet returned to Iraq

The US Department of Justice said a past seller of the tablet, infamously purchased by the US company Hobby Lobby, misrepresented how it had been acquired.

Iraqi prime minister stresses PMU should be Iraqi institution under state authority

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is seeking to reorganize the Popular Mobilization Units under the framework of the PMU law.

An Iraqi Kurdish music teacher gives a music lesson at a summer school in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on June 17, 2014. The Kurdish region has been receiving displaced Iraqis fleeing nearby areas in northern Iraq taken over by militants, lead by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), in a swift offensive in which they have said they intend to advance on Baghdad. AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty

Criticism mounts in Iraqi Kurdistan over unpaid teacher salaries

Teachers say the Kurdish government is not paying on time and want their salaries to come from Baghdad, but Kurdish authorities point to a budget dispute with the federal government.