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Iraq

March 10, 2026

Baghdad 6:17 am

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

Exclusive

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

Baghdad wants Kurdish pipelines to move up to 200,000 barrels per day to global markets, but Erbil is demanding relief from a dollar embargo and greater autonomy over trade.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

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

Israeli-Kurdish relations are rooted in a common struggle against Islamic extremism and the Kurds’ strategic presence across Turkey, Syria and Iran.

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

Analysis

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

Israel hopes Iran’s Kurds, and other minorities, will mobilize to help bring down the Iranian regime.

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

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

Which 6 Kurdish groups could join the war in Iran?

Iranian Kurdish groups that recently formed an alliance could soon join the United States and Israel in their campaign against the Islamic Republic, Al-Monitor has learned.

Latest News

Exclusive

US-backed Kurdish forces poised to enter Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan 'within days'

A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) participates in a military drill in an outpost near Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq on Jan. 15, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Kurds see opening yet remain wary as Trump seeks help to oust Iran regime

An Iranian Kurdish Peshmerga member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) inspects damage sustained at the Azadi Camp of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) following an Iranian cross-border attack in the town of Koye (Koysinjaq), in the east of Erbil district in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on March 3, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, with the killing of Iran's supreme leader and the Islamic republic retaliated with barr

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Turkey to repatriate its ISIS fighters from Iraq as jihadis escalate Syria attacks

Women and children seen inside al-Hol camp, amongst them some 6,200 women and children from around 40 nationalities, and including relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists in the desert region of Hasakah province on Jan. 25, 2026 in Al Hasakah, Syria.

Here is what to know about Kuwait-Iraq maritime dispute

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq.

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

An Iraqi municipal worker fixes the cables of an overhead power line in al-Zahraa neighborhood in Mosul, during an ongoing military operation against the Islamic State, Iraq, Jan. 11, 2017.

Electrical towers again become targets in Iraq

Iraq's transmission towers are increasingly the target of bombings.

slain Karbala mayor

Iraq moves to protect state property

The Iraqi government launched a campaign to remove encroachments in Iraq, which is more likely to anger political parties and armed groups whose huge influence has allowed their supporters to encroach on state-owned land.

Staff members at Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs work around crates of looted Iraqi antiquities returned by the United States, ahead of a handover ceremony at the ministry in the capital Baghdad, on Aug. 3, 2021.

Iraq recovers thousands of smuggled artifacts for national museum

The visit of the Iraqi prime minister to Washington led to the recovery of thousands of smuggled artifacts, including the Assyrian Gilgamesh tablet, leading the premier to announce the reopening of the Iraqi National Museum.

Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Family feud in Iraqi Kurdish party may undercut election chances

A dispute between the son of the founder of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party's former leader, and his cousin might reduce the chances of victory in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Mohammed al-Halbusi (L), newly elected speaker of the Iraqi parliament, delivers a speech Sept. 18, 2018, following a meeting in Basra.

Feud between Iraqi Sunni leaders could undercut bloc ahead of elections

Speaker of parliament and leader of the Advancement alliance Mohammed al-Halbusi has accused the leader of al-Azm alliance, Khamis al-Khanjar, of selling Sunni land.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Violence down in Syria’s al-Hol camp but conditions remain 'horrifying'

The Islamic State has been smuggling boys out of displacement camps to train in the Syrian desert.

Members of the Cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) headed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani pose for a photograph in Erbil.

Family power grab in Iraqi Kurdistan raises fears of intra-Kurdish violence

Talabanis strip their cousin of all powers amid a power struggle in the Kurdistan Regional Government's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party.

In this picture taken on July 15, 2021, an Afghan militia fighter keeps a watch at an outpost against Taliban insurgents at Charkint district in Balkh Province.

Taliban victory in Afghanistan could inspire terrorists, armed groups throughout Middle East

There are increasing reports of foreign jihadist fighters in Afghanistan.

A nurse stands by the CIRA-03 robot prototype built as part of a self-funded project to assist physicians in running tests on suspected COVID-19 coronavirus patients.

Middle East economic outlook hinges on vaccinations

Five countries to watch: Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Oman.

US President Joe Biden (R) hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, July 26, 2021.

Iraq-US strategic dialogue divides anti-US groups in Iraq

The recent strategic dialogue talks between Iraq and the United States have divided anti-US groups in Iraq, as some welcome the results of the dialogue and others reject it and ask for full US withdrawal from Iraq.

A woman looks on at the waste dump of Diwaniyah where families live in the rubbish with no electricity or drinking water, on March 25, 2018.

Iraqi Kurdistan water crisis blamed on climate and Iran

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government has asked citizens to ration water.

An Iraqi medic picks an oxygen bottle for a COVID-19 patient at a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk.

Iraq faces a new wave of COVID-19 cases amid great challenges

The Iraqi Ministry of Health worries that too many Iraqis are disregarding public health guidance and refusing to get vaccinated.