Iraq - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Iran cover image

Iraq

July 15, 2026

Baghdad 10:15 am

42°C

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, DC, July 14, 2026.

Trump hosts Iraqi PM Zaidi as Iran war intensifies

President Donald Trump emphasized Iraq’s “tremendous oil reserves” and possible deals with US companies.

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.

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

Members of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a militia affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), disarm an improvised explosive device placed by Islamic State fighters near the village of Umm al-Dhiban, northern Iraq, April 30, 2016. They share little more than an enemy and struggle to communicate on the battlefield, but together two relatively obscure groups have opened up a new front against Islamic State militants in a remote corner of Iraq. The unlikely alliance between the Sinjar Resistance

In struggle against PKK, Turkey takes flight

The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish militants is becoming more complex and destructive as the Turkish army begins using drones in warfare.

Iraqi Shiite Turkmen families, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrive at Kanaan, Diyala province July 24, 2014. Picture taken July 24, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR405US

Iraq’s Turkmens call for independent province

Turkmens and other Ninevah minorities are demanding their own provinces once the Islamic State is forced out of Ninevah, which some fear may divide the country further, causing new conflicts in the region.

Iraqi Shi'ite radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a sermon to worshippers during Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque near Najaf, December 11, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani - RTX1Y8TG

What’s behind Sadrists’ return to Iraq’s Shiite National Alliance?

After boycotting the alliance for months, the Sadrist movement says it has returned, conditionally, to prepare a united front for the upcoming elections.

A view of Zalikan Camp in Bashiqa, October 6, 2016. Picture taken October 6, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani - RTSR6ML

Turks blame US, Iran for encouraging Baghdad against Ankara

Turkey's opinion-makers think Iraq isn’t acting alone in its calls for Turkish troops to leave a camp near Mosul.

Campaign for missing Kurdish politician winds up with a rare happy ending

A Kurdish politician who went missing amid bloody clashes in Turkey in May has turned up safe and sound in Iraq, sparking fresh controversy over his disappearance, which had mobilized human rights activists in Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (not pictured) following their meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, October 10, 2016. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTSRNKO

Erdogan tells Abadi to 'know his place'

The row over Turkey’s military presence in Iraq is growing bigger by the day.

Will Jewish MP join Iraqi parliament?

Responding to Iraqi Jewish messages, an Iraqi parliamentary bloc calls for official representation of Iraqi Jews in the parliament.

An Iraqi homeless person sleeps inside a street tunnel in central Baghdad, 14 November 2007. A roadside bomb attack targeting a US patrol near Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone killed today two Iraqi civilians and wounded three, security officials said. AFP PHOTO/SABAH ARAR (Photo credit should read SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Terror groups exploit Iraqi homeless

As the country's economic and security crises drag on, unemployed young Iraqis are finding themselves on the streets and vulnerable to militant groups that use them to gather information and even commit acts of terror.

Smoke rises from the site of a bomb attack in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, April 17, 2015. A car bomb exploded on a road outside the U.S. Consulate and compound in Erbil on Friday, a Reuters witness said. The consulate houses U.S. diplomats and staff but there was no immediate reports of casualties. Gunfire was heard immediately after the blast but stopped later, the witness said. REUTERS/Stringer - RTR4XRWU

How Iraqi Kurdistan plans to reform education to fight extremism

The Kurdistan Regional Government aims to reform the religious curriculum, but some claim that these efforts will fail because extremists still have influence on the reform process.

An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter looks through binoculars on the top of Mount Zardak, about 25 kilometres east of Mosul, on October 6, 2016.
Mosul, Iraq's second city, was seized by the Islamic State (IS) group in 2014 after multiple Iraqi divisions collapsed in the face of a jihadist assault.
But Baghdad is now planning, with help from a US-led coalition, a major operation to retake the city, which had a population of two million before the IS invasion. / AFP / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should r

Turkey's brash behavior riles Iraq

Iraq worries that Turkey, emboldened by the progress of its Operation Euphrates Shield intervention in northern Syria, might be planning an "Operation Tigris Shield" for Mosul.

Iraqi Shi'ite radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a sermon to worshippers during Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque near Najaf, Iraq September 23, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani - RTSP3DV

Sadrist call to change electoral law could push local elections to 2018

Though all of Iraq's parliamentary blocs acknowledge a need to amend the electoral law, there is less agreement on what direction changes should take and no plans to make it happen.

Iraqi Marsh Arab women paddle their boats at the Chebayesh marsh in Nassiriya, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, February 15, 2013. The Marsh Arabs who had farmed this area for thousands of years, were badly affected by a campaign mounted by the government of Saddam Hussein in the 1990s to destroy their lifestyle. The marshes were drained of water, and hundreds of thousands of Marsh Arabs were forced to flee to cities, where they live in poverty, the locals in this area said. Picture taken February 1

Can Iraq reach dam agreement with Turkey to protect marshes?

Recent Turkish dam projects, in particular the Ilisu Dam, affect the level of water in Iraq significantly with the marshes drying and the agricultural industry witnessing a significant decline.