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Iraq

July 14, 2026

Baghdad 5:05 pm

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Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at a Council of Ministers meeting in Baghdad on July 11, 2026.

Analysis

On first foreign trip, Iraqi PM Zaidi woos Trump but Iran casts long shadow

Iraq's new prime minister is in Washington promising business deals and closer ties with the United States, but convincing the Trump administration he can rein in Iran-backed militias may prove his toughest challenge.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

An aerial view shows port of the western Syrian port city of Latakia, on Dec. 18, 2024.

Analysis

Can a UAE-backed Syria-Iraq corridor become Gulf's next trade route?

On June 26, Emirati and Syrian officials discussed plans for a logistics corridor connecting Syrian ports to Gulf markets via Iraq.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Latest News

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

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

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

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

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Explainer

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

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

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.

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 Iraqi soldier walks next to a wall painted with the black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants, during a battle with Islamic State militants near Arabi neighborhood, north of Mosul, Iraq, January 21, 2017. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily - RTSWOU6

Iraq’s Sunnis eye post-IS future under regional cover

Under Arab and international sponsorship, Iraq’s Sunni leaders recently attended a conference in Turkey to discuss the future of Sunnis in post-IS Iraq, with the conference sparking Shiite outrage and dissent among other Sunni officials opposed to the Turkish role in Iraq.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RTX31WQK

Iraq PM visits White House amid debate over post-Mosul strategy

With the liberation of Mosul in sight, the Trump administration is internally divided on what formula might bring long-term stability.

Iraqi Kurds play music as they walk through the town of Akra, 500 km north of Baghdad, on March 20, 2017 as they celebrate the Noruz spring festival.
The Persian New Year is an ancient Zoroastrian tradition celebrated by Iranians and Kurds which coincides with the vernal (spring) equinox and is calculated by the solar calender. / AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Nowruz becomes opportunity for dialogue in Iraq

During Nowruz this year, the Baha’i community in Iraq has launched a social dialogue initiative to establish a foundation of dialogue and coexistence in all components of society.

U.S. soldiers gather near military vehicles at an army base in Karamless town, east of Mosul, Iraq, December 25, 2016. Picture taken December 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTX2WHHJ

The coming Iran-US confrontation in Iraq

With the operation to seize Mosul from the Islamic State coming to an end, it appears that Iran and the United States are on the path to a showdown in Iraq.

Archeological findings are pictured inside an underground tunnel in east Mosul on March 6, 2017.
Two winged bulls dating from the Assyrians empire were found in a labyrinth of narrow underground tunnels dug by the Islamic State group in east Mosul. The impressive maze of tunnels dug by the jihadists to carry out archaeological excavations is located in the heart of the hill that houses the tomb of the Prophet Jonah (Nabi Younes). / AFP PHOTO / ARIS MESSINIS (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AF

Ancient palace emerges from under Mosul shrine destroyed by IS

The Islamic State's destruction of the prophet Yunus' shrine in Mosul has revealed the Assyrian palace long thought to be beneath it.

Kurdish forces loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party are seen after storming a facility in protest at the Iraqi government's oil policy in Kirkuk, Iraq March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed - RTS1164R

Conflict over Kirkuk oil returns

As the Kurdish political dispute rises up, a military force from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) seized the Kirkuk oil field and stopped the oil flows in order to push Baghdad to arrange a new oil agreement in the favor of the PUK.

Will Karbala be added to list of World Heritage sites?

The council of the holy city of Karbala wants to ensure that the pre-Islamic ancient sites of the city of Karbala are added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.

A Yazidi man carries his child at the Sharaf Al-Deen temple in Shingal's outskirts, Iraq, August 14, 2016. REUTERS/Ari Jalal - RTX2KT69

Iraqi minorities move forward with autonomy plan

Representatives of the Turkmen, Yazidi and Assyrian minority communities of Iraq have declared a coalition and put forward the most complete vision yet for self-rule in the country’s north.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.
Motorists travel on a highway in Tehran as the city is covered in dust July 6, 2009. The government closed private educational centres, state offices, industrial units and military bases for two days and raised its pollution alert status due to the dust, which an official from Tehran's environment office attributed the source to dust from dried marshland in Iraq blown towar

Why dust storms still suffocate Iran’s Khuzestan province

The administration of President Hassan Rouhani has declared that it has made great strides in combating dust storms and pollution in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan, but the region appears to still be in the grip of recurring environmental crises.

Iraqis buy vegetables at a market in the Hamam al-Alil area, south of Mosul, on March 11, 2017, following it's liberation by Iraqi forces during an offensive to retake the western parts of Mosul from the jihadists. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Probe blames corruption for imports of bad food, medicine in Iraq

Iraqi politicians rebuke regulatory and health authorities as spoiled food and expired medications are discovered.

TOPSHOT - A woman walks amid a pile of clothes next to an outdoor charity wall marked as "the generous wall", an initiative encouraging people to donate clothes to those in need and open for people to collect items they need to keep warm, in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on February 27, 2016. / AFP / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Self-immolations on the rise among Iraqi Kurdish women

Despite the colorful image painted to the outside world of female peshmerga forces contributing to the fight in Iraqi Kurdistan, some women in the region are facing extensive oppression and violence.

General Khalifa Haftar, commander in the Libyan National Army (LNA), leaves after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, November 29, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov - RTSTRVH

Putin gets some payback with 'alternative project' for Libya

Why Putin backs Hifter; Barzani’s Sinjar dilemma; Israel’s missing Gaza policy; GCC moves to the margins on Syria.