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Iraq

July 30, 2026

Baghdad 12:29 pm

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Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at a Council of Ministers meeting in Baghdad, July 25, 2026.

Zaidi cancels Riyadh trip after US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq

The move comes after Riyadh joined Washington in targeting Iraqi militias, dealing a setback to Baghdad's efforts to strengthen ties with Gulf Arab states.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets Iraq Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi upon his arrival in Ankara, July 28, 2026.

Explainer

Erdogan hosts Zaidi, touts ‘historic step’ in Turkey-Iraq energy ties

The Turkish president outlined Ankara’s priorities with the new Iraqi government during the Iraqi leader’s first visit to Turkey: security, energy cooperation and the Development Road.

Latest News

Zaidi to meet Erdogan as Turkey-Iraq ties take off, Kurds feel sidelined

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not pictured) at the Pentagon on July 14, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

Analysis

Zaidi’s test in Tehran

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is welcomed to the Saadabad Palace in Tehran by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, July 23, 2026.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Iraq deepens Iran ties days after US investment push

Iranian Presidential Office / AFP via Getty Images

International oil firms halt production in Iraq’s Kurdistan amid US-Iran escalation

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

Muqtada al-Sadr shakes up Iraqi politics by calling for new Shite bloc

Muqtada al-Sadr’s calls to restore the "Shiite Home" were viewed as an attempt to revive the electoral Shiite alliance that cracked during recent legislative elections.

Armed groups target liquor shops in Iraq

Shops selling alcoholic beverages in Baghdad are constantly targeted. Some Iraqis see this as part of the war on their personal freedoms.

Members of the Iraqi-Kurdish Peshmerga forces attend a handover and US military and logistic assistance distribution ceremony to the Peshmerga Ministry of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the Arbil the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq on November 10, 2020. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED / AFP) (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

One reported dead in fight between Kurdish groups in Iraq

A peshmerga soldier in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq reportedly died during a fight with the PKK on Sunday amid tensions between the two groups as well as with Turkey.

International court finds UK war crimes in Iraq but will not open investigation

The International Criminal Court has closed its probe because it could not conclude that UK authorities were unwilling to genuinely carry out an investigation.

Dozens killed, injured in Iraq’s Kurdistan protests as some consider leaving

Protests in the southeastern part of the Kurdistan Region over unpaid public sector salaries amid an ongoing budget dispute with Baghdad have led to several deaths.

Death toll mounts as Iraqi Kurdish protests continue

The unrest in Iraq's northern Sulaimaniyah province has left at least nine people dead.

Supporters of Iraq's Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrate in Tahrir Square in Baghdad on November 27, 2020. - Tens of thousands of supporters of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered in the Iraqi capital in a show of political power, as the legislative elections are scheduled for next June. (Photo by Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqi government presses ahead with early elections next year

The Iraqi government is striving to make the legal and political preparations for elections in June 2021, amid multiple political and security challenges.

Iraq’s president urges end to violence in protest-hit Sulaimaniyah

Iraqi President Barham Salih weighed in on the increasingly violent protests that have gripped the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

TOPSHOT - A view shows the ravaged al-Idara al-Mahalia stadium, which was once used by Islamic State group fighters as a weapons depot, near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on October 22, 2020. - Jihadi fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group seized Mosul in 2014, later expanding its so-called 'caliphate' to over a third of Iraq and into neighbouring Syria. In 2017, Iraqi and coalition forces forced the hardened insurgents out in a grinding urban battle that left the ancient city in ruins. The bullet-ri

Egypt wins strong foothold in Iraq’s reconstruction

Millions of Egyptian workers may benefit from their government's involvement in Iraq’s massive reconstruction process.

Iraqi government considers sales tax to relieve budget crisis

Iraq is mulling the possibility of imposing a sales tax amid concerns over the consequences of such a move on Iraqis already struggling in a down economy.

Egyptian soldiers stand guard during an organised tour for diplomats to mark the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the Suez Canal, in the northeastern city of Ismailia on November 17, 2019. - One hundred and fifty years after the Suez Canal opened, the international waterway is hugely significant to the economy of modern-day Egypt, which nationalised it in 1956. The canal, dug in the 19th century using "rudimentary tools" and which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, was opened to navigation in 1

Egypt, Iraq deepen defense ties

Egypt and Iraq are expanding defense industry ties in a sign of deepening engagement among Cairo, Baghdad and Amman.

Shiite factions close to Sistani move to separate from Iran-backed militias

Brigades close to top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani announced the formation of a mobilization force affiliated with the chief of staff of the Iraqi armed forces, rather than Iran.