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Iraq

July 22, 2026

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Iraq

International oil firms halt production in Iraq’s Kurdistan amid US-Iran escalation

The move follows the deaths of two US service members in an Iranian attack on Jordan.

US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, July 14, 2026.

Analysis

What Zaidi's Washington visit means for US investment in Iraq

Iraq could greatly benefit from US investment in gas capture, which could help reduce the country's dependence on neighboring Iran.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images

Chevron, ConocoPhillips advance Iraq's Hormuz alternatives

Oil agreements have been announced or are expected to be signed on Friday, toward the end of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi's visit to the United States.

Latest News

Trump hosts Iraqi PM Zaidi as Iran war intensifies

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.

Analysis

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

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

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

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

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

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

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

Smoke rises into the sky from what activists said was Free Syrian Army fighters destroying a tank that belonged to forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Qaboun area, eastern Ghouta, September 15, 2013. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX13MHE

Suicide bombings on the rise among Shiites

While suicide attacks were once the preserve of Sunni extremist groups, there have been reports of recent attacks in Syria carried out by Shiite militants fighting alongside the Assad regime.

Assem al-Tamimi, a Palestinian doctor and Hijama specialist, treats patients at his clinic in the West Bank city of Hebron August 8, 2009. Hijama is a traditional Islamic treatment method that involves creating a vacuum on the skin by placing inverted cups on parts of the body and drawing blood from an incision on the skin. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK HEALTH IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR26IKP

Hijama, bloodletting as a traditional medicine, remains popular in Iraq

Hijama, a form of traditional medicine that involves removing "bad blood" with suction cups, remains popular in Iraq due to its foundation in culture and religion.

A ship is docked at Al-Basra oil terminal, next to a Central Meeting and Manifold Platform belonging to Iraq's Southern Oil Company in the Middle East Gulf November 27, 2013. The Southern Oil Company is preparing a new Central Metering and Manifold Platform to increase oil export capacity. It will be operational in the first quarter of next year, according to Associate Director Mahmoud Abdul Amir. Picture taken November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: ENERGY) - RTX163G7

Iraq seeks to become regional trade hub

As its economy continues to struggle, Iraqi officials are working to improve the country's transportation sector to make it an international trading hub.

Islamist fighters demonstrate with their weapons during their graduation ceremony at a camp in eastern al-Ghouta, near Damascus November 28, 2013. The newly graduated fighters, who went through military training, will operate under the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham brigade. Picture taken November 28. REUTERS/Diaa Al-Din (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTX15XCO

Syrian events continue to develop in Geneva, Ghouta

Though the battles taking place in both places take different forms, the events going on in Ghouta and Geneva will bear significantly on the near future of the conflict.

Iraqi freelance cameraman Yasser Faysal al-Joumaili poses for a picture in Falluja, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad November 22, 2004. An al Qaeda-linked group in Syria has executed an Iraqi freelance cameraman, the first foreign journalist killed by insurgents in the conflict, a press freedoms watchdog said on December 5, 2013. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized Joumaili while he was on a reporting trip in northern Syri

Iraqi authorities fail to protect journalists

Journalists are increasingly being targeted by attacks and killings in Iraq, while the government stands by in silence.

Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against Turkish security forces, after an incident in the Lice district of Diyarbakir province killed one person and wounded seven on Friday, in Istanbul June 29, 2013. Turkish security forces killed one person and wounded seven on Friday when they fired on a group of people protesting against construction of a new gendarmerie outpost in Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey, security sources said. The incident happened in the village of Kayacik in the Lice di

Kurdish peace process is on knife edge — again

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members kidnapped four Turkish soldiers on Sunday only to release them early Monday; this has caused people to question the progress of talks with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

A victim of human trafficking from Iraq, 14, laughs while speaking at a shelter for women and children in Abu Dhabi May 31, 2011. The non-profit shelter was established in Abu Dhabi in 2008, and two more centers have since been established in neighbouring emirates Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah, helping victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking from around the region. REUTERS/Jumana El Heloueh (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR2N4VD

Iraqi government rejects plans for women’s shelters

The Iraqi government has refused to back plans by civil society associations to open shelters for battered women, claiming that women would use them to leave their husbands, and this would threaten many Iraqi families.

People sit in the back of a truck as they celebrate what they said was the liberation of villages from Islamist rebels near the city of Ras al-Ain in the province of Hasakah, after capturing it from Islamist rebels November 6, 2013. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria

Syrian Kurds discuss differences over Geneva II

At the core of Syrian Kurd differences is tension between Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani and Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Iraqis walk down Al-Rashid Street in the capital Baghdad, January 2, 2005. Rashid Street, the once vibrant heart of the city, has been in sad decline for decades, its intellectual life choked by repression, its cafes and stores strangled by war and sanctions. But it has taken the anarchy, crime and guerrilla violence unleashed after the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein to kill off what was left of Rashid Street's colonnaded, Ottoman-era charm. TO ACCOMPANY FEATURE STORY BC-IRAQ-STREET REUTERS/Faleh Kheiber

Maliki's housing initiative may be part of election strategy

Is Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "National Initiative for Housing" a means to win votes?

Assyrian mural sculptures are displayed in the Iraqi national museum in Baghdad September 24, 2008. In Iraq's national museum, a frieze shows an Assyrian king, whose former capital is now in modern Iraq, besieging what looks like a walled town as soldiers pile decapitated heads at his feet. Picture taken September 24, 2008. To match feature IRAQ/MUSEUM REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz (IRAQ) - RTX95P0

National Museum of Iraq remains closed to public

Four years after officially reopening, Iraq's national museum remains off-limits to average Iraqis and information about it is difficult to obtain.

Baghdad-Erbil oil dispute: Agreeing to disagree, for now

As the Erbil-Baghdad oil controversy drags on, it remains unclear how ties will be affected between Ankara, Erbil and Baghdad.

Iraqi Shi'ite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (C) takes part in Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque near Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad May 10, 2013. REUTERS/Ahmad Mousa (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION) - RTXZHC5

Maliki-Sadr rivalry intensifies ahead of Iraqi elections

Both Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Muqtada al-Sadr may be vying for Iran's backing in next year's elections.