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

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Iraq

March 17, 2026

Baghdad 11:16 pm

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An Iraqi oil tanker waits at the Khawr Abd Allah canal leading up to Al-Faw port in southern Iraq, on June 6, 2024.

Desperate to sell its oil, Iraq turns to Turkey amid standoff with Kurds

As Iraq looks to reroute oil to Turkey, Baghdad is also using the plan to push the Iraqi Kurds to greenlight exports through their territory.

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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.

Latest News

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

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.

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

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 comic strip collective tells stories of war, rebirth

Mesaha, an Iraqi comix group, had its first European debut at Switzerland's Fumetto festival, yet visa obligations stopped the artists from presenting their own works.

A worker cleans the street next to a campaign poster of candidates ahead of the parliamentary election, in Najaf, Iraq, April 14, 2018. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani - RC155ACA6900

Religious disputes escalate over upcoming Iraqi elections

Religious leaders in Iraq are calling on voters to exercise caution in the upcoming elections and avoid casting votes for corrupt politicians.

Iraqi musicians fight to revive ancient art of maqam

A handful of enthusiasts are trying to save Iraq's age-old melodic system known as maqam, which was placed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

Electronic vote counting sparks controversy ahead of Iraqi polls

Despite the advantages offered by electronic counting and sorting devices in the Iraqi elections, fears remain that the results will be falsified.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces detain Islamic State militants southwest of Kirkuk, Iraq October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed - RC168144D210

Rural areas southwest of Kirkuk grapple with fears of IS sleeper cells

The Fatha road snakes behind the heavily damaged Beiji oil refinery, crossing between the low-altitude Hamreen and Makhoul mountain ranges into an area of okra fields and mullahs who fear Islamic State (IS) sleeper cells.

Tribal leaders gather for a meeting in Mosul on August 30, 2017 to discuss the security situation after Iraqi forces reseized the city from the Islamic State (IS) group in July.
Iraqi troops backed by a US-led international coalition routed IS in Mosul in July after a gruelling nine-month fight for Iraq's second city. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Will Iraq's new 'tribal court' undermine rule of law?

A group of tribal sheikhs will be appointed by the Ministry of Justice to intervene as arbitrators to resolve disputes and conflicts between Iraqi tribes, which some fear will undermine the rule of law in Iraq.

The dueling ayatollahs

Khamenei, Sistani, and the fight for the soul of Shiite Islam

Iraqi police who fought for tribal PMUs won't return to force

Local Iraqi police officers who joined the Popular Mobilization Units to fight the Islamic State seem to have no intention of returning to their old jobs.

Iraqis hold guns as they hunt at in the Chibayish marshes near the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriyah on September 13, 2016.
UNESCO has named Iraqi marshlands once ravaged by dictator Saddam Hussein as a World Heritage Site, a bright spot for a country where jihadists have repeatedly sought to wipe out history.

/ AFP / Haidar HAMDANI (Photo credit should read HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi boat-makers struggle to keep their trade afloat

The ancient craft of building boats, which is one of Iraq's oldest heritage industries, is disappearing, with only a few dozen workshops left in the country.

How will Sinjar crisis end as tensions mount between Baghdad, Ankara?

Ankara's insistence on combating the Kurdistan Workers Party may push Baghdad to take the lead on cleansing northern Iraq of the Kurdish militia, a scenario that presents a new internal crisis in Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

Iraqi security forces members hold a position as they advance towards the Salaheddine province in the western desert bordering Syria, on November 26, 2017, in a bid to flush out remaining Islamic State (IS) group fighters in the al-Jazeera region.
Iraqi forces thrust north from the Euphrates Valley into the desert a day earlier, opening up a new front in the drive to flush out fugitive Islamic State group fighters, a commander told AFP. / AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read /AFP/Getty Images)

Baghdad clamps down on cross-border arms smuggling

While security along the Iraqi-Syrian border has improved with the near defeat of the Islamic State, Iraqi security forces still have their hands full trying to prevent arms smuggling and attacks by what is left of the terror group.

Iraqi churches shoulder burden of reconstruction, for now

In Iraq, churches have taken the lead in persuading and helping Christians return to towns razed by the Islamic State.