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Iraq

Iraq in Between Iran and the United States
  • Podcast
  • Iraq in Between Iran and the United States

    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.

    April 9, 2026

    Iraq’s oil paralysis: A self-inflicted wound and a gift to Tehran
    Photo by Ismael Adnan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
  • Commentary
  • Iraq’s oil paralysis: A self-inflicted wound and a gift to Tehran

    With the Strait of Hormuz closed and oil production from Iraq’s south in free fall, Baghdad’s failure to maximize the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline is no longer a policy dispute. It is a national emergency.

    March 16, 2026

    The Transatlantic Alliance Will Survive Just Fine
  • Commentary
  • The Transatlantic Alliance Will Survive Just Fine

    Media and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are hyping the idea that President Trump’s attempt to gain sovereign control of Greenland has caused unprecedented and irreparable damage to the over 75 year-old Transatlantic Alliance.  This “analysis” stems from multiple sources.  On both sides of the ocean, there are those who pounce on any deviation from the norm by Trump as evidence the world as we know it is ending. And in Europe, there is the human but unattractive reaction of weak, dependent states against their one powerful ally when it rejects Europe’s preferred script. Much of the US media criticism is summarized by the concept that our other NATO allies can never again “trust” the US.

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    Iraqi Vice President Reveals Iran’s Influence in Iraq through Proxies
  • Analysis
  • Iraqi Vice President Reveals Iran’s Influence in Iraq through Proxies

    Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi has revealed that a leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) has traveled to Iran to discuss the issue of internally displaced people of the strategic town of Jurf Al Sakhar near Baghdad.

    May 4, 2017

    Iran-Backed Iraqi Militia Forces Retake Ancient City of al-Hadar in Western Mosul
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Backed Iraqi Militia Forces Retake Ancient City of al-Hadar in Western Mosul

    The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) today liberated the historic city of al-Hadar in western Mosul from the Islamic State, the Iranian media reports. Iraqi security forces cooperated with the P.M.F. in al-Hadar offensive.

    April 26, 2017

    Iran-Backed Iraqi Mobilization Forces Urge Baghdad to Expel Turkish Ambassador
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Backed Iraqi Mobilization Forces Urge Baghdad to Expel Turkish Ambassador

    The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) – an alliance of largely Shiite militia groups dominated by Iran – has called on the Baghdad government to expel the Turkish ambassador from Iraq, Fars News Agency reported. The call came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the P.M.F.

    April 24, 2017

    Iran-Supported Iraqi Militia Leaders Ramps up Anti-American Propaganda
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Supported Iraqi Militia Leaders Ramps up Anti-American Propaganda

    A prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander has accused the United States of providing weapons and food to Islamic State fighters trapped in western Mosul, according to Fars News Agency, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.).

    April 19, 2017

    Iran-Controlled Militia Groups Playing Key Role in Operations in Mosul, Kirkuk
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Controlled Militia Groups Playing Key Role in Operations in Mosul, Kirkuk

    The spokesman of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) reiterated today that its forces will play a leading role in military operations in the Iraqi provinces of Nineveh and Kirkuk – particularly in the strategic city of Tal Afar in western Mosul. “The Popular Mobilization Forces have a commanding and extensive presence and participation in operational zones in Nineveh Province,” P.M.F.

    April 13, 2017

    Iran’s Soleimani Reportedly in Iraqi Kurdistan to Influence Referendum Talks
  • Analysis
  • Iran’s Soleimani Reportedly in Iraqi Kurdistan to Influence Referendum Talks

    Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.)’s elite Quds Force, has traveled to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah as Kurdish political leaders are discussing plans to hold referendum on the political fate of the Iraqi Kurdistan region this year,

    April 11, 2017

    Iraq after ISIS: Three Major Flashpoints
  • Analysis
  • Iraq after ISIS: Three Major Flashpoints

    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.

    April 6, 2017

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