The US administration appears to have great expectations for Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali Falah al-Zaidi. But the expectations need to be tempered.
After months of deadlock following the November 2025 elections, Iraq’s parliament approved a new government under Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on May 14, 2026 — just as the country has become a battleground in the US-Israel-Iran war. Zaidi inherits a daunting brief: reviving a struggling economy, reining in armed factions, and steering Iraq through a perilous regional landscape. Dr. Renad Mansour, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme and director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House, joins host Alistair Taylor to discuss the war’s impact on Iraq — from Iran’s militia networks to the surge of attacks on the Kurdistan region — and how it’s reshaping Baghdad’s ties with Tehran and Washington.
Hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj are joined by MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Amb. (ret.) Robert S. Ford to examine what is at stake for Iraq in the Iran war. The only country to have been hit by both sides, Iraq is caught in the middle of a regional conflict, with the local Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) carrying out attacks on American interests and personnel — and the US responding. This escalation comes at a period of internal political transition in Iraq, which has been locked in negotiations to form a new government since the November 2025 elections. Ford, who served as Deputy and later Acting Ambassador in Baghdad from 2008 until 2010, unpacks how Iraq is navigating the current moment, how the Kurdistan region fits into this equation, and what this all means for the future of US-Iraqi relations.
While Iraq’s efforts to dislodge the Islamic State (ISIS) from Mosul have proceeded better than expected, the Iraqi political class must now face the complicated and divisive matters that it has failed to address for years. While the battle to liberate all of Iraq from ISIS is not over, three issues remain sources of tension: decentralization, the presence of foreign troops in the north, and the status of disputed territories such as Kirkuk, between the Kurds and the central government.
The deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) has said that he takes a pride in being a “
A senior Iranian lawmaker has warned that the United States is “plotting a new invasion” by sending more troops to Iraq and Syria.
A spokesman of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) has called on the United States and its allies to withdraw their forces from Mosul.
Over the past six years, Iran has played a key role in propping up the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, by sending Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) military personnel as well as recruiting, funding, training and leading an extensive network of Iraqi, Lebanese, Pakistani and Afghan Shiite militia forces.
A prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander has warned peshmerga forces loyal to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to withdraw from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and stressed that the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) will not allow any parts of Nineveh Province to be incorporated into the Iraqi
The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have seized several villages in northwestern Mosul from the Islamic State in recent days and are planning to enter the strategic city of Tal Afar, the Iranian media reports.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Charles Lister, Randa Slim, Paul Salem, and Eran Etzion provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition in D.C., the Iraqi Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S., the upcoming Arab League summit, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to China.
With the Islamic State on the verge of losing Mosul, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) and its Iraqi militia proxies have recently launched a vicious propaganda campaign against the U.S. and its regional allies – posing security risks to U.S. military advisers that are helping the Iraqi security forces in the country.
Ali al-Hussaini, a spokesman of the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), has claimed that PMF forces have made significant territorial gains in western Mosul and the operation to liberate the strategic city of Tal Afar will begin soon.
This article first appeared on Real Clear World.
While Iraqi forces are fighting to retake the western half of Mosul from Islamic State fighters, internal divisions regarding the future of Iraq’s political process are escalating ahead of provincial elections scheduled for September, especially within the country’s largest Shiite political bloc, the Shiite National Alliance.
A powerful Iran-supported Iraqi Shiite militia group has announced the creation of a new brigade to “liberate” the Golan Heights from Israel, the Iranian media reports. “After the latest victories [in Syria and Iraq], we established the ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’.
The Iraqi government has approved Tehran’s controversial ambassador pick to represent the Islamic Republic in Baghdad, the Iranian media reports.
أقدم مطبوعة محكمة مخصصة لدراسة الشرق الأوسط المعاصر، تغطي مجلة MEI الرائدة السياسة والمجتمع والثقافة في المنطقة.
