U.S. increases pressure on Iran with sanctions on militias in Iraq and Syria
The Trump administration on Thursday ...
Muqtada al-Sadr
U.S. adds Iranian-backed Shia militia and its leader to list of global terrorists
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Op-eds
Midterm Assessment: Iraq
Iraqi Militant Qayis Khazali Warned Us About Iran. We Ignored Him.
Iran has its tentacles all over Iraq, and the United States has no one to blame but itself. It is a bipartisan failure dating back to the March 2003 invasion. Even after the Bush administration a...
Op-eds
Iraqi Shiite Cleric Sadr Announces Political Alliance with Pro-Iran Coalition
This week, Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced a political alliance with Hadi al-Amiri, leader of a pro-Iran c...
Policy Briefs
National Elections in Iraq Set for May
This week, the Iraqi parliament...
Policy Briefs
Two Cheers for Rex
I rarely find myself thinking along similar lines as fellow Foreign Policy contributor Stephen Walt. Nevertheless, just as I was contemplating an article that would take note of a few o...
Op-eds
Perfect Partners
When he won the election, Donald Trump—along with his national security adviser Michael Flynn, his all-purpose counselor Stephen Bannon, and, perhaps, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner—wa...
Op-eds
After Saddam Was Hanged
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, no voice arguing for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein had greater moral weight than that of Kanan Makiya. As Dexter Filkins put it in a 2007 New York Times Magazi...
Op-eds
The Islamic State’s Stalled Offensive in Anbar Province
In September, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched a devastatingly effective offensive in Iraq’s Anbar province that for a time masked the losses the group was experienc...
Op-eds
Losing Petraeus, Losing Iran
The general was one of few who understood that Iran was at war with the US, and no bargain could be struck
Op-eds
Split Ends
In March, the Syrian regime began slaughtering peaceful demonstrators in Deraa, a small city close to the Jordanian border. In August, the American president called for the man responsible for th...
Op-eds
The One-Way War
Last week, federal authorities arrested Mansoor Arbabsiar for his involvement in a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies. Arbabsiar&...
Op-eds
Iran’s Qods Force Commander Involved in Plot to Kill Saudi Ambassador
The commanding general of Iran's Qods Force, the special operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has been accused by the US government of being involved in the recently...
Op-eds
Iran’s Proxy War Continues
June was the deadliest month in Iraq for U.S. forces in more than two years, with 15 servicemen killed. Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal explains why: “The U.S. has attribute...
Op-eds
Are We Safer?
Yes, George W. Bush has made America more secure since 9/11.
Op-eds
The Press Botches Basra
Less than 48 hours after Iraqi security forces began their campaign against militant Shia factions in Basra, the media had already declared the operations a failure. The operations, which were in...
Op-eds
Tony Blair on Iran and Al Qaeda
For the second time in less than a year, former British prime minister Tony Blair testified before the Iraq Inquiry today. The Inquiry is investigating the circumstances that led up to the...
Op-eds
Welcome back, Sadr
Muqtada al Sadr, the Iranian-backed, pseudo-cleric derisively known as Mullah Atari and hailed in US media circles as "the most powerful man in Iraq," has returned from his self-imposed three-yea...
Op-eds
Saudi Arabia’s Iraq Policy
Last week, the Saudi monarch King Abdullah extended a public invitation to Iraq’s president and all its parliamentary coalitions to come to Saudi Arabia in order to hold talks and reach an...