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Iraq

July 31, 2026

Baghdad 12:03 am

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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

Iraqi Kurds take part in a mass demonstration in the city of Sulaymaniyah to demand payment of their salaries and an end to corruption, on September 27, 2016. / AFP / SHWAN MOHAMMED (Photo credit should read SHWAN MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Unpaid salaries fuel protests in Iraqi Kurdistan

Ongoing budget disputes with Baghdad have fueled salary delays and a lack of business bailouts in the Kurdistan Region as KRG debt swells to $27 billion.

What's next for Turkish-Iraqi ties after deadly drone strike?

The killing of Iraqi border guards in a Turkish drone strike undermines Baghdad’s traditional flexibility toward Ankara at a time when Turkey’s Arab adversaries are seeking to draw Iraq to their side.

Iraqis wearing protective masks leave after shopping at the Mall of Baghdad as it reopens after a long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the Al-Harithiya area of the capital Baghdad, on July 19, 2020. (Photo by SABAH ARAR / AFP) (Photo by SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq again breaks daily COVID-19 record

The outbreak is worst in Baghdad, Erbil and Basra.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY NICOLAS CHEVIRON Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) rebels man a security checkpoint on October 28, 2009 near a PKK base in the Qandil mountains, near Rania province, in northern Iraq. From their bases in northern Iraq, the Kurdish guerilla movement is defying recent overtures of the Turkish government to reconcile with Turkey's 15 million Kurds, saying it is ready to wage a 50-year war against Ankara. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP

Turkey says it will continue attacks on PKK after Iraqi border guards killed

A Turkish drone strike targeting the Kurdistan Workers Party left two Iraqi border guards and their driver dead on Tuesday.

Iraqi detainees leave the prison after being freed on February 28, 2013 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. 160 prisoners were freed today and Iraq has freed 4,000 prisoners since the beginning of 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Thursday, in an apparent bid to placate protesters in Sunni areas of the country. AFP/ PHOTO/ ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP via Getty Images)

In dramatic move, Iraqi PM visits prisons in response to protester appeals

The Iraqi government is under pressure to reveal the fate of persons unaccounted for and those detained in secret prisons.

The Bayraktar TB2 drone is pictured flying on December 16, 2019 at Gecitkale Airport in Famagusta in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). - The Turkish military drone was delivered to northern Cyprus today amid growing tensions over Turkey's deal with Libya that extended its claims to the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean. The Bayraktar TB2 drone landed in Gecitkale Airport in Famagusta around 0700 GMT, an AFP correspondent said, after the breakaway northern Cyprus government approve

Iraq tells Turkey defense minister to stay away after its officers killed in drone strike

Iraq cancelled a planned Baghdad visit by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and summoned the Turkish ambassador after a a Turkish drone attack killed two senior Iraqi officials.

Iraq's Kurdistan Region recording highest-ever daily COVID-19 cases

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been hard hit by both the coronavirus and the economic impact of the lockdowns, as a top politician announces he has contracted the virus.

What are vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris' views on the Middle East?

Joe Biden's running mate has views on Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria that fall in line with the Democratic party establishment.

Turkish helicopters fly over the Cudi mountain during an attack on an outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camp 30 October 2007 in the Cudi mountains, Sirnak province, near the Turkish-Iraqi border, south-eastern Turkey. Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani has urged Turkish Kurd rebels to renounce violence, but insisted he will take no "orders" from Turkey to crack down on their bases in the autonomous northern Iraqi region he administers. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AF

Turkish drone strike kills two senior Iraqi officers, army says

Officials say the Tuesday strike targeted a meeting between Iraqi border officials and Kurdish militants.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on August 4, 2020, shows a boy sits on a school bench after his village and school were flooded by the Ilosu Dam separating the newly constructed Hasankeyf town from the remains of the ancient town of the same name and its archaeological sites which were flooded as part of the Ilõsu Dam project located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. - Despite years of protests by residents and activists, the town on the banks of the Tigris River disappeared

What trump cards is Iraq pulling against Turkey to secure water quota?

Turkey refuses to abide by the protocols and treaties signed with Iraq on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers acting as if they are local rivers.

A man sits in fishing boat in the water of Shatt al-Arab in Iraq's southern port city of al-Faw, 90 kilometres south of Basra near the Gulf, on May 18, 2020. - In Iraq, a national lockdown to halt the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has found some unexpected fans: local businesses who no longer have to compete with Turkish, Iranian or Chinese imports. Those countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, typically flood Iraqi markets with inexpensive products at prices local producers can't compete wit

Iraq's al-Faw port project's endless delays

The al-Faw grand port project has been long delayed due to financial problems, among other issues.

Tribal assassinations spark Iraqi-Syrian border concern

The assassination of a prominent tribal figure and reports of continuing smuggling of individuals from Syria into Iraq have raised concerns on both sides of the border.