Iraq

Iraqi President Barham Salih on Thursday named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as prime minister-designate, state television reported. Kadhimi was named shortly after the previous designated prime minister, Adnan al-Zurfi, withdrew his candidacy after failing to secure enough support to pass a government. Zurfi made his announcement in a statement on …

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 …

Monaco-based oil and gas consultancy Unaoil paid $6 million in bribes to secure Iraqi oil contracts after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a London court heard on Thursday. In the trial, which has just begun, two former Unaoil managers and an ex-sales chief of Dutch-based energy services company SBM are …

Iraq has approved contracts in a fifth bidding round for gas exploration contracts the east of the country, the government said in a statement on Thursday. The exploration deals in Diyala province are to develop fields that are expected to produce more than 750 million cubic feet of natural gas …

BP (BP.L) has pulled out of Iraq’s giant Kirkuk oilfield after its $100 million exploration contract expired with no agreement on the field’s expansion, dealing a fresh blow to Iraq’s hopes to increase its oil output, three sources told Reuters. The move comes as Western energy companies reassess their operations …

Three Katyusha rockets fell on Tuesday inside Baghdad’s Green Zone which houses government buildings and foreign missions, Iraqi police sources told Reuters. The three rockets were launched from Zafaraniyah district outside Baghdad, the sources said, adding that two rockets landed near the U.S. embassy. Source: Reuters

Dozens of Iraqi protesters were wounded in Baghdad and other cities on Monday in clashes with security forces who were trying to clear blocked roads, security and medical sources said, as anti-government unrest resumed after a lull of several weeks. In Baghdad’s Tayaran Square overnight, protesters threw petrol bombs and …

Populist Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Tuesday for a million Iraqis to march against the U.S. “presence and violations” in Iraq after Washington’s killing of an Iranian commander in Baghdad. Iraq’s parliament has called for U.S. and other foreign troops to leave amid growing a backlash against Washington’s …

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister said the kingdom has taken all precautions to ensure the safety of oil facilities after recent strikes in Iraq. “We have taken every precaution that can be taken,” he told reporters when asked whether the kingdom had raised oil security after recent U.S. and Iran strikes …

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday said he did not see specific evidence from intelligence officials that Iran was planning to attack four U.S. embassies, an assertion made by President Donald Trump in justifying the killing of Iran’s top general. While Esper said he agreed with Trump that additional …

Four people were wounded on Sunday in an attack on Balad air base in northern Iraq which houses U.S. personnel. The Iraqi military said in a statement that eight Katyusha rockets had been fired at the base, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, and that the …

Washington on Friday spurned an Iraqi request to prepare to pull out its troops, amid heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions after the U.S. killing of an Iranian commander in Baghdad, and said it was exploring a possible expansion of NATO’s presence there. Seeking to tighten pressure on its foe, the United States …