Iraq

Baghdad (AFP) – The Iraqi parliament elected pro-Iran candidates as speaker and first deputy speaker on Saturday, boosting the country’s chances of forming a new administration more than four months after national elections. National politics has been in paralysis since the May 12 ballot, but Saturday’s selections are expected to solidify new parliamentary alliances. The […]

Iraq

Iraq: Muqtada al-Sadr demands PM Abadi Resign after Massive Basra anti-Corruption Protests

Ammar Karim

Baghdad (AFP) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faced calls to resign Saturday as his alliance with a populist cleric who won May elections crumbled over deadly unrest shaking the country’s oil-rich south. The two leading groups in parliament called on Abadi to step down, after lawmakers held an emergency meeting on the public anger […]

Iraq

Iraq: Basra Protesters Torch Iranian Consulate in ongoing Water Protest

AFP

Basra (Iraq) (AFP) – Iraqi protesters on Friday torched the Iranian consulate in the southern city of Basra in fresh demonstrations over poor public services after parliament called for an emergency session on the unrest. Unidentified attackers also fired shells into Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in a rare attack on an area that houses parliament, […]

Iraq

Is Iraq Collapsing? Basra Protests of Dirty Water have sent 30,000 to Hospital, Green Zone Bombarded

AFP

Basra (Iraq) (AFP) – Three mortar shells were fired into Baghdad’s green zone early Friday as a curfew was imposed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after a fresh outbreak of violent protests over poor public services left one person dead and 35 injured. The rare assault by unidentified attackers on the heavily-fortified green […]

Iraq

What 15 Years of US Occupation have Produced: Angry Iraqis

Reese Erlich

Militant protests continue in the oil rich city of Basra

Iran

Trump Iran Sanctions Knee-Cap Baghdad’s Recovery from ISIL Catastrophe

Middle East Monitor

(Middle East Monitor) – The Iraqi government is worried about US sanctions imposed on Iran, which seem to have a negative impact on the Iraqi economy too. There is currently political unrest in Iraq, as the protests calling for economic reforms have restarted. Baghdad declared that it would ask Washington to exempt Tehran from the […]

Iraq

Are Iraqis Dumping Sunni-Shiite Politics as they Demand Services, End of Corruption?

Seyed Ali Alavi

London (OpenDemocracy.net) – In the absence of civil war, the people of Iraq have found an opportunity to demand that the political elite deliver on their election campaign promises. While Iraq is in the grip of a breathtaking summer heat-wave, the odor of dissatisfaction rose in the major southern cities of Basra, Najaf and Karbala […]

Featured

Defying Trump, Iraq’s PM walks Back Pledge to Boycott Iran, says will avoid Dollar Trade

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraqi caretaker prime minister Haidar al-Abadi on Monday walked back his pledge last week that Iraq would participate in the US sanctions regime imposed on Iran. Al-Abadi now will only say that Iraq will not trade with Iran in dollars. I suppose that the two could instead use Euros or […]

Iraq

Nationalist Cleric Sadr and Communist Allies wins Iraq Vote Recount

AFP

Baghdad (AFP) – Nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s alliance won Iraq’s May parliamentary election according to a manual recount, the electoral commission said Friday, paving the way for a government to be formed nearly three months after the vote. Allegations of fraud prompted the supreme court to order a partial manual recount, but Sadr’s joint […]