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Iraq

March 15, 2026

Baghdad 8:43 am

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CENTCOM: Six killed after US refueling tanker aircraft crashes in Iraq

The KC-135 is the fourth American military aircraft downed since the war against Iran began.

Retired Israeli general and executive director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies Amos Yadlin attends a session at the Manama Dialogue security conference in the Bahraini capital, on Dec. 5, 2020.

Interview

Yadlin: Israel's war goal to weaken Iran, not immediate regime change

Israeli leaders are aware that Washington will decide when the war ends whether or not Israel has achieved its war aims, Yadlin told Al-Monitor.

Commercial vessels are pictured offshore in Dubai on March 11, 2026. AFP via Getty Images

Oil jumps above $100 as energy crisis called worst in history: What to know

The latest spike is the second time in a week that oil prices have climbed above $100 a barrel.

Fighters lift flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including al-Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed a day earlier in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023.

US warns of kidnapping threat in Iraq as Iran-backed militia hits diplomatic facility

A number of US-related sites have been targeted by Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, prompting Baghdad to bolster its air defenses.

Latest News

Exclusive

Baghdad, US turn to Iraqi Kurds for oil exports as Iran war hits supplies

The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on Nov. 24, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Why Israel's looking to Kurds to make gains against Iran regime

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters affiliated with PAK train on Jan. 18, 2026, near Erbil, Iraq.

Analysis

CIA, Mossad bolster Iran’s Kurds as US, Israel seek to ignite military revolt

Osama Al Maqdoni / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Which 6 Kurdish groups could join the war in Iran?

A picture from the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan on Feb. 22, 2026.

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

Egypt keen on joining reconstruction of Libya, Iraq

The Builders of Egypt Forum presented opportunities for construction companies to take part in the reconstruction processes in Libya and Iraq to compensate for the lack of projects at home.

Basra protests build in Iraq as substandard services persist

As summer arrives in Iraq, a new wave of demonstrations is beginning in the south, possibly jeopardizing Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government.

Kurdish region's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani speaks during a news conference in Erbil, Iraq November 6, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari - RC1D69B71E20

Nechirvan Barzani in Baghdad to discuss oil

The KRG's new president, Nechirvan Barzani, traveled to Baghdad to meet the Iraqi prime minister and discuss the two sides' outstanding oil dispute.

Pope Francis arrives to takes part in a conference in Naples, Italy June 21, 2019. REUTERS/Ciro de Luca - RC158DB9C340

Iraqis welcome Pope Francis' plan to visit in 2020

Following several requests made by Iraqi leaders to Pope Francis to visit Iraq, he reveals his desire to come next year.

BEIRUT, LEBANON - JUNE 19 : (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY MANDATORY CREDIT - "LEBANESE PRIME MINISTRY OFFICE / HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Russian Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev (L) meets Lebanese President Michel Aoun (R) in Beirut, Lebanon on June 19, 2019. (Photo by LEBANESE PRIME MINISTRY OFFICE / HANDOUT/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Russian diplomats sweep through Lebanon, Iraq, Syria

Russia's Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev and others recently paid important visits to the Middle East to present Russia’s refugee plan and discuss the latest regional developments.

Turkish army tanks control the centre of the old medieval Kurdish town of Ammadiya, July 13. 2004. Turkish forces entered Iraq's Kurdish zone in 1997 under a year-long agreement with Kurdish authorities to pursue militants from a Turkish Kurd rebel group, but with their territory now part of a newly sovereign Iraq, Kurds feel the Turks may have overstayed their welcome. Picture taken July 13, 2004. REUTERS/Sasa Kralj RCS/DBP - RP5DRICSWDAA

Turkey mulls permanent military presence in northern Iraq

Turkey is considering setting up additional military infrastructure in Iraqi Kurdistan as its operations against militants there continue.

Iraqi parliamentary groupings join hands in bid to oust Abdel Mahdi

A bloc of Iraqi political parties comes together to form a strong opposition against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in an apparent bid to remove him from office.

Kirkuk court issues arrest warrant for acting governor

An integrity court in Kirkuk has issued an arrest warrant for Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri, the acting governor of Kirkuk, on financial corruption charges.

Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, presiding over the supreme federal court, reads a verdict on appeals concerning amendment of an election law in Baghdad, Iraq June 21, 2018. REUTERS/Abdullah Dhiaa al-Deen - RC134238AFB0

Iraq considers appointing powerful clerics to high court

Iraq's legislature is mulling over a bill that would change the makeup of the country's top court to include Islamic scholars, stirring controversy over how much influence they should have.

A worker walks at the Zubair oilfield in Basra, Iraq May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani - RC15616A6B70

Cancer hits residents of Iraqi oil city of Basra

The cancer rate has been on the rise in the Iraqi oil-rich province of Basra, and many blame this on increasing pollution and on depleted uranium dust from weapons used in the 1991 Gulf War.

Members of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) demonstrate their skills during a rehabilitation military exercise at a graduation ceremony in Basra, Iraq January 31, 2019. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani - RC1DDE9A9E60

Iran-backed militias struggle to resist US pressure

Feeling the burden of US sanctions on Iran, the Popular Mobilization Units are flexing their muscles in Iraq, trying to strengthen their position.

MUNICH, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 17: Haider Al-Abadi, Prime Minister of Iraq delivers a speech at the 2018 Munich Security Conference on February 17, 2018 in Munich, Germany. The annual conference, which brings together political and defense leaders from across the globe, is taking place under heightened tensions between the USA, together with its western allies, and Russia. (Photo by Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)

Is Abadi looking to return to prime minister's post?

Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi has resigned from the Islamic Dawa Party, raising questions about his possible return to the premiership.