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Iraq

December 27, 2025

Baghdad 10:10 pm

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Armoured vehicles of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Forces are deployed outside the US embassy building in Baghdad's Green Zone on June 12, 2025, after an announcement by a US official the previous day that staff levels at the diplomatic mission in Iraq were being reduced over security concerns. Despite reporting progress in earlier rounds of talks between Iran and the United States, tensions have reached a fever pitch this week as Washington moved non-essential staff from bases in the region following US medi

Analysis

After Iraq’s election, what are US priorities for next government?

Washington wants there to be no sanctioned groups in the next Iraqi government, a source told Al-Monitor, as the US and Iran compete for influence.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

Syria's security directorate in al-Bukamal seized SAM-7 missiles being prepared for smuggling into Iraq, on Dec. 22, 2025.

Syria seizes anti-aircraft missiles near Iraqi border: What to know

The Syrian government is stepping up efforts to combat arms smuggling, including in relation to Hezbollah, Kurdish-led forces and ISIS.

A worker turns a valve at the Shirawa oil field, where oil was first pumped in Iraq in 1927, outside the northern city of Kirkuk, Jan. 19, 2004.

Analysis

What Turkey wants from Iraq to renew pipeline deal

Ankara is pushing for full control over the pipeline’s Turkish section and a capacity-allocation system, as arbitration battles with Baghdad drag on.

David O'Byrne

By David O'Byrne

Iraqi President Barham Salih meets with UK Prime Minister, Theresa May (unseen), on June 25, 2019, in London, England.

Barham Salih slated to become first Kurd and Iraqi to lead UNHCR

Barham Salih — former Iraqi president of Iraq and widely respected politician in Washington — has been formally nominated to become the next UN high commissioner for refugees.

Latest News

Exclusive

Iraq's Kurds air fury over PM Sudani's stance after attack on gas field

KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (R) and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (L) meet in Irbil on April 12, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Former PM Kadhimi: Vote shows Iraqis turning toward new leadership

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on Sept. 23, 2022.

Analysis

Iraq’s economic future in limbo as paralysis looms post-election

People drive past election billboards in Baghdad, Oct. 14, 2025.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

Iraq’s next PM? Shatri, Eidani, Kadhimi and others jostle for lead

People walk past electoral campaign posters ahead of Iraq's parliamentary elections in central Baghdad on Nov. 6, 2025.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

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

Andrew Parasiliti

President and Chief Content Officer

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

land near Baghdad airport

Iraq plans new city next to capital

In order to find solutions to the chaos in Baghdad due to overpopulation, the Iraqi government plans to launch a new city next to the capital.

Iraqi riot police protect the Turkish embassy in Baghdad on Feb. 18, 2021 after calls on social media to gather outside the Turkish embassy to protest Turkey's vows to invade the northwestern enclave of Sinjar.

Turkey’s anti-PKK assault leaves Kurds more divided

Turkey’s unremitting assault against the PKK is destabilizing Iraqi Kurdistan, weakening the rebels on the one hand while bolstering support for them among disaffected locals on the other.

A picture taken on January 13, 2020, during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State, shows a view of the damage at Ain al-Asad military air base housing US and other foreign troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

Pro-Iran militias increase attacks, rhetoric against foreign troops

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has called on the United States and Iran "to avoid settling scores in Iraq."

This picture taken during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State shows a bulldozer clearing debris from Ain al-Asad military air base in the western province of Anbar, Iraq, Jan. 13, 2020.

US Embassy, Ain al-Asad base targeted in Iraq as militias up tension

Following the US strike on militias' bases last week, the US Embassy and Ain al-Asad base were targeted by a drone and rockets.

The sun sets behind electrical grids in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar province, on Jan. 3, 2021.

Islamic State suspected of sabotaging Iraqi electrical towers

Power transmission towers have recently been targeted in Iraq, which already is suffering from major electricity shortages.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to AFP about the strikes on two major Saudi oil facilities that were claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels but which both Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2019.

Iraq to enhance cooperation with NATO

As Iraq aims to rebuild its security institutions, the cooperation with NATO increases.

Families leave al-Hol camp

Iraq seeks to rehabilitate Islamic State families

Baghdad’s program to allow families of Islamic State adherents to return from a Syrian camp and to reintegrate them back into Iraqi society stirs controversy.

A man stands by fans spraying air mixed with water vapor deployed by donors to cool down pedestrians along a street in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, on June 30, 2021, amidst a severe heatwave.

Intel: Iraq’s power crisis prompts resignation of electricity minister

Scorching summer heat, coordinated attacks on power transmission towers and Tehran cutting its power supply to Baghdad have contributed to severe power shortages across the country.

SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images

Iraqi Kurdistan government denies letting US bomb Iran-backed militia

An official from an Iran-backed militia in Iraq accused the Kurdistan Regional Government of allowing the United States to launch bombing runs from Erbil.

SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq replaces state media head

An Iraqi court has reinstated the former president of the Iraqi Media Network, annulling the appointment of Nabil Jasem.

Iraqi mourners attend the funeral of a fighter of the Hashid Shaabi paramilitary alliance following US airstrikes on the Syrian-Iraqi border, on June 28, 2021, in the northern Ninevah province.

Iraq-Syria border strikes on pro-Iran ‘militias’ spark retaliation

Airstrikes on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border near Qaim conducted by the United States were followed by retaliatory strikes by Iran-linked groups against a Kurdish-led SDF base housing coalition forces in eastern Syria.

(L-R) King Abdullah II of Jordan, Iraqi President Barham Salih and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attend a meeting at the Republican Palace on the sidelines of the Iraqi-Egyptian-Jordanian tripartite summit, Baghdad, Iraq, June 27, 2021.

Iraq hosts historic summit with Jordanian, Egyptian leaders

The visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to Baghdad is the first by an Egyptian head of state since 1990.