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Iraq

January 1, 2026

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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

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

mustafa al-kadhimi

Iraq, US to resume new round of strategic dialogue

Iraq and the US have agreed to resume strategic talks over their mutual relationship and further US troop withdrawals.

Lt. Col. Jace Neuenschwander signs a document in Mosul

Intel: US, Iraq to renew talks over troop presence in April

The Biden White House accepted Baghdad's request to kickstart strategic dialogue

Iraqis stand outside parliament building, or Council of Representatives, in Baghdad's Green Zone on February 27, 2020. (Photo by SABAH ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq's PM calls for national dialogue

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is calling for a comprehensive national dialogue among all of the country’s forces ahead of the election, seizing the opportunity after Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq.

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community, who fled violence between Islamic State (IS) group jihadists and Peshmerga fighters in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, sit in a field near a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in the Sharya area some 15 kilometres from the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on May 20, 2015.

Iraq's Yazidis call for autonomy as conflict flares between army, PKK affiliates

Ongoing tensions due to regional interference to settle scores among rivals threaten new acts of violence, menacing the Yazidi minority concentrated in the area.

An Iraqi Airways Boeing 747 cargo aircraft is pictured on the tarmac of Baghdad's international airport following its reopening on July 23, 2020, after a closure since March forced by the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, aimed at preventing the spread of the deadly COVID-19 illness in Iraq. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq gives visa on arrival to citizens of 30 countries

The list includes the United States, China and other large economies in a bid to attract investment to Iraq; most foreigners need to apply for a visa before traveling to Iraq.

Iraqi security forces guard a symbolic funeral procession attended by high-ranking officials in Baghdad on October 23, 2019 for Major General Ali al-Lami, a commander of the Iraqi Federal Police's Fourth Division, who was killed the previous day in Samarra in the province of Salahuddin, north of the Iraqi capital. - The police commander was killed in an ambush on October 22 which Iraqi security forces blamed on dormant cells of the Islamic State (IS) group. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD A

Flurry of Sunni Triangle ops sparks questions over Islamic State

Several large military operations conducted in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq in recent weeks and mass killings have raised questions over whether a much-debated IS resurgence is actually in the making or whether the roots of the problem lie elsewhere.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - NOVEMBER 30: A woman works at the restored Al-Mustansiriya University, founded in 1227 and one of the oldest Islamic universities in the world, on November 30, 2011 in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq is transitioning as the U.S. military continues its withdrawal from the country by the end of December following the war that began in 2003. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Baghdad’s Mustansiriya Madrassa ready for World Heritage List

Baghdad’s Mustansiriya Madrassa established by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustansir around 1230 suffers obsolescence, dampness, environmental pollution and urban sprawl.

A picture taken on February 6, 2021 shows the Great Ziggurat temple in the ancient city of Ur, where Abraham the father of three religions is thought to have been born, which falls now in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province, around 375 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. - The March 5-8 visit -- the first ever by a pope -- will include inter-religious prayers at the ancient city of Ur in Iraq's south. The Pope's prayers will bring Christians and Muslims together, as well as the faithful from the ancient religions

Pope speaks of interfaith tolerance from ancient city of Ur

The ancient city is the birthplace of the father of the three major monotheistic religions, a fitting backdrop for an interfaith dialogue, Pope Francis said.

A picture shows the scene of a twin suicide bombing on a bustling commercial street in the heart of Baghdad on January 21, 2021. - The toll in a twin suicide bombing in an open-air Baghdad market morning topped 20 dead and 40 wounded, an interior ministry official told AFP. The ministry said the first suicide bomber had rushed into the market and claimed to feel sick, so that people would gather around him. He then detonated his explosives. (Photo by Sabah ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Imag

At least one killed in Baghdad explosion

The grenade attack targeted a group of people commemorating a late imam who is revered by Shiite Muslims; the attack follows an Islamic State attack in the Iraqi capital in January.

Pope Francis climbs the stairs to board his Alitalia Airbus A330 aircraft as he departs from the Iraqi capital's Baghdad International Airport on March 8, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

As pope ends trip, Iraq's prime minister calls for national dialogue

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi applauded Pope Francis' visit as a great success and reached out to the Iraqi people and different parties to form a dialogue of understanding and tolerance among them.

ERBIL, IRAQ - MARCH 07: (EDITORS NOTE: Transmitted with alternate crop) Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives to conduct mass at the Franso Hariri Stadium on March 07, 2021 in Erbil, Iraq. Pope Francis arrived in Erbil, the final stop of his historic four-day visit, the first-ever papal visit to Iraq. In his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic, Pope Francis visited Baghdad, Najaf, Erbil, and the cities of Qaraqosh and Mosul, which were heavily destroyed by ISIS. Although the trip is

Pope urges Iraqis 'not to give up' as historic pilgrimage ends

Pope Francis spent the final day of his historic trip to Iraq visiting areas in which the country’s Christian minority has traditionally had a sizeable presence and the capital of the Kurdish region, to which many have fled amid improved but still fragile security.

Pope Francis, Iraq's Ayatollah Sistani call for unity in historic meeting

For the first time in history, the pope has visited the Shiite holy city of Najaf and met with top Shiite cleric Ali Sistani.