Iraq

Two former managers of Monaco-based energy consultancy Unaoil have been convicted in Britain of bribing Iraqi officials to clinch lucrative oil projects as the war-ravaged country tried to boost exports after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. A London jury found British-Lebanese Ziad Akle, Unaoil’s former Iraq territory manager, …

Gunmen in Baghdad shot dead a well-known former government advisor and political analyst near his home on Monday in a rare high-profile killing in the Iraqi capital, government officials, police sources and medics said. The government officials described the killing of Hisham al-Hashemi, who had written about politics, Islamic State …

Iraqi security forces raided a headquarters belonging to a powerful Iran-backed militia in southern Baghdad late on Thursday and detained more than a dozen members of the group, government officials and paramilitary sources said. The raid was the most brazen action by Iraqi forces against a major Iran-backed militia group …

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in various regions of northern Iraq on Sunday night in response to an increase in militant attacks on Turkish army bases, the Defence Ministry said. “The Claw-Eagle Operation has started. Our planes are bringing the caves down on the terrorists’ heads,” the Turkish Defence …

President Vladimir Putin discussed Russia’s cooperation with Iraq over an OPEC+ deal to reduce oil supply in a telephone conversation with Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the Kremlin said on Monday. The two men noted the importance of continuing their countries’ joint efforts in the oil markets, the Kremlin said. …

Iraq and Saudi Arabia agreed on Saturday to continue working to re-balance markets and stressed their commitment to output cuts agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allies, Saudi state news agency SPA said. The comments came after Iraq’s Finance Minister Ali Allawi, who is …

US prosecutors are seeking to confiscate a rare ancient tablet from a Christian museum co-founded by the president of retailer Hobby Lobby. The 3,500-year-old artefact, from what is now Iraq, bears text from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s oldest works of literature. Prosecutors allege that an auction …

By Oula Kadhum | Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Birmingham, teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where she specializes in diaspora and Middle Eastern politics The Iraq protests are not a flash in the pan. Rather, they represent a historical turning point for …

The United Kingdom said on Friday that an Iranian satellite launch earlier this week was of significant concern and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution. “Reports that Iran has carried out a satellite launch – using ballistic missile technology – are of significant concern and inconsistent with UN …

Eleven vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative.” While such interactions had occurred occasionally a few years ago, they had stopped, and this …

The United States on Friday offered up to $10 million for information on Sheikh Mohammad al-Kawtharani, a senior military commander of the Islamist group Hezbollah in Iraq who was an associate of the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Announcing the reward, the U.S. State Department said Kawtharani had “taken over …

Rockets landed near a district that houses foreign workers in Iraq’s oil industry early on Monday, including U.S. oil service company Halliburton, but caused no damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. Police said three Katyusha rockets were launched around 3 a.m. local time and hit the Burjesia residential …

Two rockets late on Wednesday struck Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but there were no casualties, the Iraqi military said. “Two Katyusha rockets fell near Baghdad operation command. Details to follow,” the military statement said. The Green Zone has been repeatedly hit by …

The United States has been ‘enormously disappointed’ with the Iraqi government’s performance in fulfilling its obligation to protect U.S.-led coalition forces inside the country, a senior State Department official said on Friday. The Iraqi government has told the United States that Baghdad will investigate thoroughly and bring to justice those …

The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was still looking at how it may respond to any attack on American forces, days after three American troops were wounded in a rocket attack on an Iraqi base north of Baghdad. “We still are looking at how we may respond to any type …

Two rockets fell outside Baghdad’s Green Zone on Tuesday without causing any reported casualties, Iraq’s military said in a statement. The U.S.-led coalition’s spokesman, Colonel Myles B. Caggins III, said in a tweet that “Iraqis are investigating the explosions in Baghdad,” with more details coming from the Iraqi military later. …

Iraq’s president named little-known former regional governor Adnan al-Zurfi as prime minister-designate on Tuesday in another bid to overcome months of unrest and deadlock, but powerful Shi’ite blocs quickly lined up to reject his nomination. Zurfi now has 30 days to try and form a government which must then survive …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iraq’s prime minister that the United States would take measures in self-defense if attacked, according to a statement on Monday after a rocket attack on an Iraqi base that houses U.S. troops helping fight Islamic State. Pompeo spoke to Prime Minister Adel Abdul …

Multiple rockets fell on Saturday morning inside Iraq’s Taji military base that houses U.S.-led coalition troops, for the second time in a week, security sources told Reuters. An Iraqi colonel inside the base told Reuters he heard at least 10 rockets hit the base and said he could now hear …

Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab said the U.S.-led response to the attack on coalition forces in Iraq was “swift, decisive and proportionate” and warned that anyone seeking to harm those forces could expect a strong response. The United States on Thursday waged a series of precision air strikes against an …

A U.S air strike hit an Iraqi civilian airport under construction in the holy Shi’ite Muslim city of Kerbala and killed one worker, Iraqi religious authorities said on Friday. The United States said earlier it had mounted a series of precision air strikes on Thursday against an Iran-backed militia in …

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the U.S. military to respond to Wednesday’s rocket attack by Iran-backed militia in Iraq that killed two American troops and a British service member, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of …

Shia militia groups in Iraq were likely responsible for the attack on Wednesday that killed one British and two American troops at a base north of Baghdad, a top U.S. general said on Thursday, in remarks that leave the door open to potential escalation with Tehran. U.S. Marine General Kenneth …

Unidentified jets hit targets south east of the Syrian town of Albukamal along a strategic border crossing with Iraq with only material damage, state media said late on Wednesday. It gave no details. Western intelligence sources say the border town lies on a strategic supply route for Iranian-backed militias who …

One British and two American personnel were killed and about a dozen people were wounded when 18 small rockets hit Iraq’s Taji military camp north of Baghdad on Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials, who cautioned the death toll may rise given the severity …

Iraq reported its first coronavirus death on Wednesday, an elderly man in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniya, the local health department said. Iraq has so far has recorded 31 cases of the new coronavirus, one Iranian student who has since been sent home and 30 Iraqis who had all visited …

Two Katyusha rockets fell early on Monday morning inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but caused no casualties, security sources told Reuters. One missile landed near the U.S. Embassy, the sources said. Source: Reuters

In the wee hours of Jan. 8, Tehran retaliated over the U.S. killing of Iran’s most powerful general by bombarding the al-Asad air base in Iraq. Among the 2,000 troops stationed there was U.S. Army Specialist Kimo Keltz, who recalls hearing a missile whistling through the sky as he lay …

Several blasts hit a U.S.-led coalition military base in Baghdad early on Sunday from an apparent rocket attack, a U.S. military official said. The official did not immediately say if the attack caused any casualties or significant damage. Rocket attacks which Washington blames on Iran-backed militias have regularly hit near …

A rocket hit a base in northern Iraq that hosts U.S. forces on Thursday but caused no casualties, Iraqi security sources said. The base, known as K1 near the city of Kirkuk, is where a U.S. civilian contractor was killed in December in a similar attack, blamed by Washington on …

The United States has agreed to extend a waiver for Iraq to import Iranian energy supplies, including gas, two Iraqi government officials said on Monday. Washington has repeatedly extended the exemption for Baghdad to use crucial Iranian energy supplies for its power grid, for periods of 90 or 120 days. …

Iraq’s Basra Oil Co will cut crude oil output at the Nahr Bin Omar field to a minimum because of pollution and gas emissions, state news agency reported on Sunday. The company’s Director General Ihsan Abduljabbar said: “Nahr Bin Omar oilfield is considered one of the most controversial fields because …

Iran will soon disclose new information about the missile attack it carried out against a U.S. base in Iraq last month, the ISNA news agency on Friday reported Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards’ aerospace division, as saying. Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after top Iranian …

Iran on Sunday offered its full support for new Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi and reiterated its backing for the government’s demand for U.S. forces to leave the country. Iran has deep ties with many Shi’ite political parties and militias in Iraq as well as Kurdish parties from the …

Iraqi President Barham Salih appointed Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi as prime minister on Saturday, state television reported, after squabbling parties failed to name a candidate in the two months since Adel Abdul-Mahdi was ousted by mass protests. Allawi, who will run Iraq until early elections can be held, must form a …

A man accused of killing two police officers while acting as the leader of an al Qaeda group in the Iraqi city of Fallujah was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, federal officials said on Friday. Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri, 42, is wanted in Iraq on charges of premeditated murder of the …

The Pentagon has said the number of troops suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) after an Iranian attack on a US base in Iraq on 8 January has risen to 50. The new total is 16 more than previously announced. President Donald Trump initially said no Americans were injured and …

A Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives committee said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to testify at a public hearing on Iran and Iraq policy, after threatening a subpoena over previous refusals to appear. Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs …

Iraqi security forces shot at anti-government protesters in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least one person, and unidentified men set fire to sit-in tents in a southern Iraqi city, police and medics said, as months-long civil unrest escalated. Separately, at least one of five Katyusha rockets fired at Baghdad’s fortified …

Iraqi populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for demonstrations against the U.S. embassy on Sunday in Baghdad and other cities, a statement from his office said. The demonstrations are to also decry “those who have offended the symbol of the nation, Sayed Moqtada al-Sadr,” the statement said. Source: Reuters

Pope Francis met Iraq’s president on Saturday and the two agreed that the country’s sovereignty must be respected, following attacks on Iraqi territory this month by the United States and Iran. President Barham Salih held private talks for about 30 minutes with the pope and then met the Vatican’s two …

Three French nationals and one Iraqi working for a French non-governmental organization have gone missing in Baghdad, their employer said on Friday, adding that no ransom money had been demanded. SOS Chretiens d’Orient said the four had disappeared on Monday after heading to Baghdad for “administrative procedures” and that the …

Iraq’s leading Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged Iraq’s political parties on Friday to form a new government as soon as possible, and urged authorities to respect protesters’ right to express themselves. Sistani, who delivered his message through a representative at Friday prayer in the holy city of Kerbala, …

Thousands of Iraqis rallied at two central Baghdad intersections on Friday after a prominent cleric called for a “million strong” protest against the American military presence, following the U.S. killing of an Iranian general and an Iraqi militia chief. The march called by Moqtada al-Sadr aims to pressure Washington to …