The Iraqi Parliament confirmed 11 ministers and three deputy prime ministers on October 15, nearly completing Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi’s cabinet. “Within five months of the formation of the government,...
Iraq has received another carve out in Iran-related sanctions. After U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” all flights between...
US Central Command (CENTCOM) and Saudi Arabia’s Armed Forces carried out strikes on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the evening of July 28 after several days of escalating attacks by...
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, only two months into his term, has a busy month of foreign engagements. In early July, he received the body of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei which was visiting Iraq’s...
The body of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was taken to the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on July 8 as part of his funeral procession. Large crowds gathered to mourn the slain leader...
Amid a tense regional situation, Iraq’s new government is engaged in a high-stakes balancing act. Tom Barrack, the U.S. special presidential envoy for Iraq and Syria, met with Iraq’s new prime minister,...
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it killed Ali Mousa Daqduq, a top Hezbollah military leader and a commander in the Radwan Unit, the group responsible for infiltrating the Israeli border....
Promises from Iran-backed militias in Iraq can never be taken at face value. Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), an Iran-backed militia in Iraq designated by Washington as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)...
After six months of internal discord against the background of competing foreign interests, Iraq has formed its new government, ending the stasis that followed the November 2025 election. Prime Minister...
More than five months after its national elections, Iraq may finally have a new leader. On April 27, Iraqi President Nizar Amedi named Ali al-Zaidi,...
As northeastern Syria reels from the Syrian government’s offensive into areas held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), detained Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are being transferred to Iraq...
The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah has said it will not disarm in the wake of reports that suggest armed militias in Iraq will place their weapons under state control. “The Iraqi group...
The voting is done in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean there will be a new government anytime soon. The preliminary results of the November 11 election didn’t contain shocking conclusions, but neither did...
Now that voters have cast their ballots in Iraq’s 2025 parliamentary elections, the country is entering the government formation phase, which culminates in the selection of the prime minister...
Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election on November 11, the country’s sixth since the toppling of former President Saddam Hussein in 2003. The election, held as security forces were deployed...
Iraqis head to the polls Nov. 11 to elect 329 parliament members for a four-year term, marking the seventh free election since Saddam Hussein’s 2003 fall. Candidates are treading carefully, pledging...
On a recent trip to Israel, Mark Walker, President Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, did not mince words about the administration’s priorities. “We want...
The US Treasury Department added Kataib Imam Ali (the “Imam Ali Brigades”) to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists on June 12, 2025. Kataib Imam Ali is one of the many Iraqi...
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani announced a new alliance, the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, for the country’s November 2025 elections. Sudani is currently part of the...
Esmail Qaani, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), traveled to Iraq on May 14. He met with Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al Araji after arriving...