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Iraq

August 13, 2026

Baghdad 9:21 am

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The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Esmail Qaani, speaks during a commemoration ceremony marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani (on screen) in the capital Tehran on Jan. 3, 2024.

Analysis

What Qaani's Baghdad visit reveals about Iran's post-war dilemma

The Quds Force commander's Baghdad visit is occurring as Iran faced difficult choices in Iraq where the government is moving to bring powerful armed groups under state control after the recent war.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Qaani

IRGC chief Qaani reportedly in Iraq ahead of militia deadline

Esmail Qaani, who heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, has been heavily involved in Iran’s relations with Iraqi militias.

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

Latest News

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

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

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

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

Iraq's Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi speaks during a news conference at the Iraqi parliament headquarters in Baghdad September 7, 2010. Abdul-Mahdi thanked the Iraqi National Alliance for choosing him as a prime minister candidate, six months after a general election that produced no clear winner. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2I0GN

Former Vice President Slams Iraq's Economic Policy

In a statement issued on his personal Facebook page, economist and former Iraqi vice president Adil Abdul-Mahdi has vehemently criticized the country’s economic policy.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (L) speaks next to U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey during one of several planned ceremonies to mark the end of American military presence in Iraq, in Baghdad December 1, 2011. The last 13,000 U.S. troops will pull out of Iraq by the end of the year. Violence in the country has dropped sharply since the heights of sectarian slaughter in 2006-2007, but at least 10 people were killed in a bombing just north of the capital Baghdad. REUTERS/Khalid Mohammed/Pool (IRAQ - Tags:

Sadr Wants Talabani to Step Down

Iraqi Shiite Leader Muqtada Al-Sadr is seeking to appoint a new president as questions linger about President Jalal Talabani's return to Iraq.

Kurds take part in a demonstration calling for the release of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Strasbourg, eastern France, February 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jean-Marc Loos (FRANCE - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3DVAE

Iraqi Kurds Call For TurkeyTo Release Ocalan

Iraqi Kurds have launched a petition campaign calling on Turkey for the release of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH

Mourners stand beside coffins of four members of a family killed in Basra bomb attacks, during a funeral in Najaf, around 160 km (99 miles) south of Baghdad May 20, 2013. More than 70 people were killed in a series of car bombings and suicide attacks targeting Shi'ite Muslims across Iraq on Monday, police and medics said, extending the worst sectarian violence since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011. The attacks increased the number kil

Sectarian Violence Erupts Again Across Iraq

Renewed sectarian violence this week is setting back Iraqi efforts toward national reconciliation.

A general view shot on July 23, 2012 shows portraits of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his late father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad (back), at the al-Yaroubiya border crossing between Syria and Iraq, close the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Syrian citizens are fleeing to neighboring countries including Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey as fighting between Syrian government forces and Free Syria Army rebels intensifies. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/GettyImages)

Border Arrests Reveal Disunity, Conflict Among Syrian Kurds

The Democratic Union Party's security forces have arrested 70 members of a rival Kurdish party trying to enter Syria from Iraq.

The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, speaks in a rare video of him posted on the Internet on April 25, 2006. Zarqawi said Mujahideen were fighting on despite a three-year "crusader" war in Iraq. REUTERS/handout - RTR1CSXF

Syrian Cannibalism Video Reminds Iraqis of Zarqawi

A video showing a Syrian rebel commander eating the heart of a regime soldier has dealt a blow to the opposition.

Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, May 20, 2013. At least 43 people were killed in car bomb explosions targeting Shi'ite Muslims in the Iraqi capital and the southern oil hub of Basra on Monday, police and medics said. The attacks brought the number of people killed in sectarian violence in the past week to almost 200. Tensions between Shi'ites, who now lead Iraq, and minority Sunni Muslims have reached their highest level since U.S. troops pulle

Car Bombings Continue in Iraq While Evidence Remains Scarce

While the recent car bombings in Iraq are similar to past attacks, they have raised serious questions about the performance of Iraq's security forces and their methods of gathering evidence.

Fighters from Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra take their positions on the front line during a clash with Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad in Aleppo December 24, 2012. Syria special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi discussed solving the country's conflict with President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, but the opposition expressed deepening frustration with the mission following what it called the latest massacre of civilians. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3BVVN

Jabhat Al-Nusra Shows Its Cracks

What appears to be divisions among the leadership of terrorist allies Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Iraq may signal greater difficulties in controlling radical jihadists in Syria.

A shopkeeper arranges bottles in a shop in the Zayouna area of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, on May 15, 2013, the day after gunmen armed with silenced weapons shot dead 12 people at a row of alcohol shops in the Zayouna area of the capital. AFP PHOTO/ KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI (Photo credit should read KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraq's Yazidis in Crossfire In Baghdad

On May 14, 2013, 12 employees of an alcohol shop in Baghdad, 10 of whom were Yazidis, were killed by armed assailants amid increasing religious extremism in the country.

Iraqi Shi'ite al Hawza cleric Sheikh Jassim Al-Saidi prays in a Baghdad
mosque June 3, 2003 after being released from detention by U.S. forces.
Al-Saidi said that he had been accused of instigating violence towards
American forces occupying Iraq. REUTERS/Faleh Kheiber REUTERS

CLH/ - RTROS2A

Competition Heats Up Between Qom, Najaf

The long-standing competition for influence between Shiites' two holiest cities is growing.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters stand at formation in northern Iraq May 14, 2013. The first group of Kurdish militants to withdraw from Turkey under a peace process entered northern Iraq on Tuesday, and were greeted by comrades from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in a symbolic step towards ending a three-decades-old insurgency. The 13 men and women, carrying guns and with rucksacks on their backs, arrived in the area of Heror, near Metina mountain on the Turkish-Iraqi border, a Reuters witness sa

PKK Members Withdraw To Iraqi Kurdistan

Following a call by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan from prison on Imrali island, members of the party have begun to move from Turkey into the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

An Iraqi man casts his vote at a polling station in Basra, 420 km (261 miles) southeast of Baghdad, April 20, 2013. Iraqis voted for provincial councils on Saturday in their first ballot since U.S. troops left the country, a key measure of political strength before parliamentary elections next year. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXYT1X

Basra Becomes Battleground For Iraqi Politics

Basra has become Iraq’s latest political battleground as the country’s prominent Shiite factions seek to win over the local population of the majority-Shiite city in southern Iraq.