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Iraq

September 19, 2026

Baghdad 12:42 pm

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Explainer

From Maysan to Saudi Arabia, drone attack puts Iraqi province under scrutiny

Officials have been removed but worsening problems need to be addressed in militia stronghold bordering Iran, local residents and observers say.

A man walks past a mural depicting oil pumps and the Venezuelan flag, with portraits of Venezuelan independence leader Simon Bolivar (L) and former late President Hugo Chavez (R), in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 3, 2026.

Analysis

Could Trump’s oil push in Venezuela upend OPEC’s energy order?

Washington’s growing role in controlling the Latin American country's crude riches could help reshape an energy order centered on OPEC as the Hormuz crisis pressures Gulf exports.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

After gun found in lake, French police probe link to 2012 Iraqi family murder

A recently discovered Luger pistol may have been used in the mysterious 2012 killing of the al-Hilli family near the Alpine town of Chevaline in eastern France.

AFP via Getty Images

Iraq sentences kidnapper of US journalist Shelly Kittleson to 15 years: What to know

The first sentencing in relation to Shelly Kittleson’s abduction comes as Iraq moves to rein in Iran-backed militias.

Latest News

Iraq reinforces Saudi border security amid militia tensions: What to know

Iraqi army troops patrol the Iraq-Saudi Arabia border

Iraq summons Iran envoy over 'Persian Gulf' post, Baghdad name origins: What to know

Fred TANNEAU / AFP via Getty Images

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

Iraqi intelligence building bombed in Kirkuk

A suicide bomber, reportedly an Islamic State member, detonated himself at an Iraqi intelligence building in the disputed northern city.

Refugees from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, walk past tents at Nowruz refugee camp in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, August 17, 2014. Proclaiming a caliphate straddling parts of Iraq and Syria, Islamic State militants have swept across northern Iraq, pushing back Kurdish regional forces and driving tens of thousands of Christians and members of the Yazidi religious minority from their homes. Picture taken August 17, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said (SYRIA - Tags: POLIT

Intel: US watchdog calls on State Department to add Syria to list of religious freedom violators

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should designate Syria as one of the world’s worst religious freedom offenders and put Iraq, Turkey and Egypt on a special watch list, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended in its annual report.

A picture taken on October 2, 2019, shows the Khosrawi border crossing between Iraq and Iran, also known as the Munthriya border crossing, in the Diyala province of eastern Iraq, as Iranian pilgrims arrive on their way to the central Iraqi shrine city of Karbala ahead of the Arbaeen religious festival. (Photo by Younis AL-BAYATI / AFP) (Photo by YOUNIS AL-BAYATI/AFP via Getty Images)

Islamic State conducts attacks near Iraq’s Syrian and Iranian borders

A number of attacks in Iraq’s bordering province, especially Diyala along the Iranian border, have raised concern. Islamic State fighters have filmed themselves with weapons that appear to be of Iranian origin, while security gaps remain due to tension between the KRG and Baghdad.

Workers set up a natural gas pipeline during a dust storm at Iraq's border with Iran in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani - GF10000380312

Iraq receives another short waiver to US sanctions on Iranian gas

The United States granted Iraq 30 more days to continue importing Iranian gas in contrast with longer sanctions waivers in the past.

Russia doubles down on Iraq despite COVID-19

Moscow and Baghdad continue to plot a course for bilateral relations, though the process is being complicated by Iraq’s precarious political situation and the global coronavirus crisis.

Iraqi soldiers search for IS along Tigris River

Iraqi army soldiers look for IS fighters in Samarra, where IS has been active during the coronavirus lockdown in the country.

Defence lawyers Serkan Alkan (L) and Martin Heising (R) look on as the Iraqi defendant, identified only as Taha al-J., believed to have belonged to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, hides his face while arriving into the courtroom for the start of his trial for genocide and murdering a young Yazidi girl, he held as a slave, on April 24, 2020 at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Frankfurt am Main. - Defence lawyers Serkan Alkan (L) and Martin Heising (R) look on as the Iraqi defendant, identified only

Justice for genocide: Yazidis hopeful as Islamic State trial opens in Germany

An Iraqi man is on trial in a German court for human trafficking and genocide against the Yazidis.

Iraq's health system meets the challenge of coronavirus

Coronavirus inflections in Iraq are decreasing, prompting the government to gradually ease the curfew and lockdown.

Turkey seeks to exploit claims to Iraqi Kurdish village

A small village in Iraqi Kurdistan has become a flashpoint for tensions between the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party and its rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, with the PKK also entering the dispute.

Amid public pressure, Iraq suspends transfer of IS families to Zummar camp

Iraqi minorities in the Ninevah Plain are complaining about the transfer of Islamic State families to a camp in their area.

People shop after the lockdown measures, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), were partially eased, to prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 21, 2020. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily - RC2Y8G9E0PGC

Iraq relaxes coronavirus restrictions ahead of Ramadan

The government announced shops and factories can resume work during certain hours.

Iraqi security forces are seen during military operations to search for Islamic State militants in Anbar province, Iraq December 29, 2019. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani - RC275E9K0C8B

Islamic State steps up attacks in Iraq during coronavirus lockdown

The Islamic State launched numerous attacks in Iraq's disputed territories in April amid a lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus.