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

Iran cover image

Iraq

December 29, 2025

Baghdad 10:45 pm

9°C

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

Latest News

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

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

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

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

Six years after Yazidi massacre, US urged to take 'bolder action'

Iraq's Yazidis say the threat from the Islamic State and other extremist groups is preventing them from returning home.

Iran strikes Kurdish Iranian group in Iraqi territory

Iran sometimes targets the positions of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and other Kurdish Iranian groups based across the border in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Iraqi prime minister presses ahead with promise of early elections

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has committed to early elections, but Iraq's political blocs may resist.

Iraq’s prime minister says early elections to be held in June 2021

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said parliamentary elections will be held June 6, 2021.

Iraq’s government says families of nearly 560 killed in protests to be compensated

The Interior Ministry also announced the arrest of three members of the Iraqi security forces it said were responsible for two protester deaths overnight Sunday.

An Iraqi policeman, wearing a protective mask and gloves due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stands by a water sprinkler on a hot summer day in Baghdad on July 7, 2020. (Photo by SABAH ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqis face record-breaking heat, electricity cuts

Protests against the government and frequent power outages are continuing amid Iraq's highest temperatures on record.

Former Iraqi insurgents, members of the Sunni Anbar Awakening, guard a meeting between Sunni and Shiite tribe leaders and clerics in al-Duwanem, southwest of Baghdad, 25 September 2007. The aim of the meeting is to bring back life to the town after it was cleared from al-Qaeda. The formation of the Sahwat al-Anbar, or Anbar Awakening, the grouping of Anbari tribes and former insurgents opposed to Al-Qaeda, traces back to last year, when Al-Qaeda in Iraq conducted its campaign of murder and intimidation thro

Iraqi lawmaker calls for arming tribes amid attacks on Sunni communities

As several Islamic State attacks in Sunni provinces took out local commanders and a community leader in July, a lawmaker from Salahhuddin province has called for the arming of tribes in his region.

Yazidi activist Nadia Murad to appear on 'The Daily Show'

Murad's appearance on the popular US talk and news satire show could showcase her efforts to combat sexual violence and trafficking to a new and big audience.

<<enter caption here>> on April 13, 2015 in Baghdad, Iraq.

Assassinations, kidnappings shake Baghdad

Journalists and activists fear being targeted as another wave of protests and violence occur in Iraq.

Iraqi army aircraft damaged in rocket attack on Camp Taji

The attack is the latest in a long-running series of low-level attacks believed to be carried out by Iran-sponsored militias in Iraq.

Iraqi PM calls for investigation after two protesters killed in Baghdad

The prime minister said security forces have 72 hours to finish their investigation into the protester deaths.

Iraqi security forces stand guard at a checkpoint enforcing a curfew due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic during the Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Baghdad on May 26, 2020. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq issues 'total curfew' for Eid al-Adha

COVID-19 cases have increased to historic highs of around 2,000 a day in Iraq.