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Iraq

August 9, 2026

Baghdad 1:52 pm

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a worker inspects an oil field in Iraq

Analysis

How Turkey is deepening energy and economic ties with Iraq as Iran weakens

Turkey and Iraq are accelerating energy, infrastructure and trade cooperation as the Hormuz crisis increases the strategic value of northern export routes.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Damascus, Aug. 3, 2026. IKRPresident/X

Iraqi Kurdish president’s meeting with Syria’s Sharaa signals shift in SDF dynamics

KRG President Nechirvan Barzani’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa underscored the Kurdistan Region’s growing role in Syria’s Kurdish politics.

Latest News

Analysis

Renewed Iraq attacks test Zaidi’s push to disarm Iran-backed militias

Mourners carry one of the bodies of members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) who were killed earlier in Diyala in central Iraq by US-Saudi strikes, during the funeral in Baghdad on July 29, 2026. The US-Saudi strikes killed at least 20 militants, including Iranians, according to the Hashed al-Shaabi. The US and Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. (Photo by murtadha ridha / AFP via Getty Images) /

Mustafa Salim

By Mustafa Salim

Analysis

Iran-linked militias seek to draw Iraq into regional war

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.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Exclusive

US nears full withdrawal from Iraq as bases in Kurdistan Region face attacks from Iran, proxies

Patriot

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

Sunni tribesmen take part in a military training, as they prepare to fight against militants of the Islamic State, on the outskirt of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, November 16, 2014. Islamic State's systematic massacre of hundreds of Iraq's Albu Nimr tribe should have been an unmistakable wake up call for a country that may not be able to stabilise without long-term support from Sunni tribesmen. Picture taken November 16, 2014. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4EH9R

Who represents Iraqi Sunnis?

Sunnis in Iraq are failing to find the representation that they so desperately need as the Islamic State continues to tighten its grip on Sunni towns and cities across the country.

Iraqi security forces pull down a flag belonging to Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during a patrol in the town of Dalli Abbas in Diyala province, June 30, 2014. The leader of the al Qaeda offshoot now calling itself the Islamic State has called on Muslims worldwide to take up arms and flock to the "caliphate" it has declared on captured Syrian and Iraqi soil. Picture taken June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) -

The Islamic State is here to stay

Unlike al-Qaeda, the Islamic State has been able to institutionalize jihad, thus guaranteeing its survival.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (2nd R) hosts a meeting of the European G6 interior ministers on November 6, 2014 in Paris. Interior ministers of Spain, Germany, UK, Italy and Poland were meeting with Cazeneuve on November 6 to discuss the fight against terrorism and in particular the problem of "foreign fighters" traveling in Syria and ways to combat their recruiting online. The Turkish and Canadian interior ministers, as well as the American Ministers of Justice and Homeland Security were invit

EU ministers discuss jihadist travel to Syria, border security

While the G6 meeting of interior ministers on Nov. 6 focused on jihadists traveling from Europe to Syria via Turkey, the European Parliament is considering putting in place more stringent security checks and travel restrictions.

An Iraqi man joins other pilgrims on the way to Karbala (100km south of
Baghdad) April 19, 2003, to celebrate the Shi'ite Ashoura. The traditional
pilgrimage has been banned in Iraq for more than 30 years. PP03040058
REUTERS/Petr Josek

PJ/GB - RTRM2R2

Iraq's Arbaeen pilgrims walk new, safer path

A new road is being built to make it easier for Shiite pilgrims to walk to Iraq's holy city of Karbala, where they commemorate the death of Imam Hussein Bin Ali.

How a German doctor became a PKK hero

"Dr. Medya," a physician from Hamburg, talks about her more than 20 years in the Kurdistan Workers Party in a rare interview.

Iran nuclear deal could be key to resolving region’s conflicts

Iran has signaled a willingness to engage in Iraq and Syria.

Residents take a ride at an amusement park as they celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha in Baghdad October 5, 2014. Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha to mark the end of the haj pilgrimage by slaughtering sheep, goats, camels and cows to commemorate Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God's command. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad (IRAQ - Tags: RELIGION) - RTR490NA

Iraq's one too many holidays

Economists are warning Iraqi policymakers that the large number of official and unofficial holidays is crippling the economy against a backdrop of governmental indifference.

Iraq's Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (R) speaks with Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz (L) at the Iraq-Kurdistan Oil and Gas Conference at Arbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region, December 2, 2013. Turkey said on Monday it stood by a bilateral oil deal with Iraq's Kurdistan region that bypassed central government but wanted to win Baghdad's support by drawing it into the arrangement. Reuters reported that Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package last week, infuriatin

Turkey's Kurdish client state

Turkey has tremendous financial and security influence over the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, exposing Erbil to economic and political vulnerabilities.

Residents shop at a market in the city of Mosul June 17, 2014. The United States is contemplating talks with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government in its battle with Sunni Islamist insurgents who routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country in the past week. Picture taken June 17, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3UL3P

Can Islamic State keep control of Mosul?

The wide Sunni sympathy for the Islamic State in Mosul cracked less than two months into its occupation, and residents are increasingly horrified by rampant arrests and executions.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (C) walks after a meeting with the top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, October 20, 2014. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR4AVK4

Sistani welcomes Iraqi politicians

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's welcoming of the Iraqi president and prime minister is not a sign that he is backtracking on steering clear of politics, but that he wants the political arena to succeed in implementing reforms, thereby protecting Iraq's religious and cultural diversity.

An Iraqi professor gives lessons to medical students in the laboratory of the College of Medicine in Kerbala University, 110 km (68 miles) south of Baghdad October 30, 2007. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammad (IRAQ) - RTR1VHD1

Grade inflation hits Iraqi high schools

Iraqi high school students tend to get extremely high final grades, which raises questions because of the country's weak educational system and that many families want their children, but sons especially, to become doctors at any price.

A man works at the West Qurna oilfield in southern Basra October 13, 2014. Oil prices are hovering just above $90 per barrel, a level last seen in June 2012, putting a strong spotlight on OPEC producing countries. They face calls to cut output at, or before, a policy meeting in late November to prop prices up as some are already feeling the pinch of sub-$100 oil through increased budget pressure. Global oil prices are collectively reflecting the sweeping impact of a U.S. shale oil boom, with its productio

Budget failure creates more economic woes for Iraq

Iraq failed to agree on a budget for 2014 and seems set to fail on agreeing to a 2015 budget; economists warned that this would only add to the nation's financial problems.