TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran and Iraq will launch the first maritime passenger transport line within the next two months, an official at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) said. The chief executive of the organization noted that an expert-level meeting was held by the Iraqi side with a focus on...

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- AD Ports Group and the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI) sign an agreement to establish a joint venture to develop Al-Faw Grand Port and its economic zone, as well as any future expansion. Furthermore, the agreement also encompasses the potential investment, management, and operation...

Vienna, Austria--The participants of the 53rd Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+, agreed to keep current oil production levels unchanged. During the meeting which took place via videoconference today, the JMMC reviewed the crude oil production...

"These banks excel not only in financial performance but also in adapting and innovating. Through partnerships with global entities like Mastercard and initiatives like the Trade Bank of Iraq's online banking system, accessibility to financial services has greatly improved," she added.

Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq said Friday a power line would soon bring electricity from Jordan to the border area as authorities aim to diversify energy sources to ease the country's chronic outages. With its generating capacity ravaged by decades of conflict and underinvestment, Iraq has long relied on imports of both...

Stockholm, Sweden - An Iraqi refugee in Sweden who stoked international outrage by repeatedly desecrating the Quran last year said Wednesday he was leaving the country for neighboring Norway after Sweden revoked his residency permit. Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests in Sweden over...

With dollars dominating the country's economy, Baghdad has imposed a series of restrictions on the use of American greenbacks domestically. At the end of 2022 the country's bankings sector also adopted the international financial messaging system known as SWIFT as part of the reforms, to help tackle money laundering and...

Washington, US – President Joe Biden will welcome Iraq's prime minister on April 15 for talks on the US troop presence, the White House announced on Friday, as tensions subside following US clashes with pro-Iran militias. It will mark the first trip to Washington by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, who...

Tehran, Iran - Baghdad and Tehran are currently engaged in negotiations to facilitate the import of gas from Turkmenistan, with the Iraqi Minister of Electricity Luay Al-Khatteeb revealing that discussions are underway to utilize Iran's extensive network for the transportation of Turkmenistan's gas. Highlighting the challenges in establishing direct lines...

Arbil, Iraq - A drone strike in northern Iraq killed a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) commander, Kurdish authorities said, raising the death toll from strikes blamed on Turkey to three. Turkey often carries out ground and air operations in northern Iraq against positions of the PKK, which has waged a decades-long...

Beirut, Lebanon - Gunmen thought to be linked to the Islamic State group in Syria killed 18 people searching for truffles in the desert Wednesday, a war monitor said. More than 50 people remained missing after the attack that saw heavy clashes with pro-government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – Economic growth of the country is projected to continue amid fiscal expansion, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team said. The team said that medium-term vulnerabilities to oil price volatility have increased significantly. Growth in the non-oil sector has rebounded strongly in 2023 while inflation receded. Supported by...

Iraqi Kurds announced that polls to elect a new parliament in the autonomous region would be held in June, after they were postponed from February. The elections have been delayed several times because of differences between the two main parties in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic...

SAMAWAH, IRAQ – Far from the hustle and bustle of major cities, young Iraqis are increasingly taking advantage of a renewed sense of safety to explore the country's serene desert getaways. Sheltering amidst the golden dunes, Ghadanfar Abdallah and his friends gather around a flickering campfire in the Samawah desert south...

London, UK- Controversial left-wing firebrand George Galloway was elected to the UK parliament on Friday after tapping into anger over the Israel-Hamas war in a chaotic by-election marred by anti-Semitism allegations. Galloway, 69, first became an MP in 1987 and will return to the House of Commons for the first time...

Arbil, Iraq - A Turkish drone strike in northwestern Iraq killed two members of a group affiliated to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Thursday, said Kurdish authorities. The fighters were members of the Sinjar Resistance Units, a group founded among the district's Yazidi community in response to occupation by the...

Oil spills in Iraq -- a country ravaged by decades of conflict, corruption and decaying infrastructure -- have contaminated farmland in the northern province, especially during the winter rains.

Tehran, Iran - Iran unveiled two new air defense systems on Saturday, state media reported, with tensions high in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza. "The Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system, built by the ministry of defense, were unveiled this morning," the official...

According to the military spokesman for Iraq's prime minister, the discussions aim to schedule a timeline for a pullout of coalition forces from Iraq, leading to the end of its mission. He said the meetings will take place on a regular basis in order to achieve the commission's works as...

"The presence of US forces in our region has no justification," Raisi said in a Tehran ceremony ahead of the 45th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution on February 12.

The US forces targeted many positions in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for a drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three US soldiers. The strikes, which targeted elite Iranian units and pro-Iranian militant groups, have led to fears that the ongoing war in Gaza could spiral into...

Washington, US - American forces shot down eight drones near Yemen and destroyed four more on the ground, the US military said on Saturday, announcing a series of incidents that took place the previous day. The strikes and shootdowns in and around Yemen came as American forces launched a wave of air...

The strikes hit "locations in the Akashat and Al-Qaim regions, including areas where our security forces are stationed", Awadi said. The United States carried out the strikes on Friday in retaliation for the killing of three US military personnel in a drone attack on a base close to Jordan's border...

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on all parties to avoid further escalation in the Middle East after US strikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria and Iraq. "Everybody should try to avoid that the situation becomes explosive," Borrell said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

"The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond," US president Joe Biden said.

"Any (US) strike will result in an appropriate response," Al-Nujaba leader Akram al-Kaabi said in a statement, adding the group would continue its actions until its demands are met for US troops to leave Iraq and an end to Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 38-year-old de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, greeted Sheikh Meshal at the airport in Riyadh as trumpets played, 21 rounds were fired and the Saudi Falcons, the air force's aerobatics team, put on an air show, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Israel's relentless military offensive has since killed at least 26,422 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory's health ministry. The Gaza war has forced more than one million Palestinians to flee to the far-southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border, according to the UN,...

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that "radical Iran-backed fighters groups operating in Syria and Iraq" were behind the strike on the frontier base in Jordan's northeast. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reiterated a call for Iran "to de-escalate in the region".

Baghdad, Iraq - Iraq and the United States on Saturday held a "first round" of talks on the future of American and other foreign troops in the country, with the Middle Eastern country expecting discussions to lead to a timeline for reducing their presence. The office of Prime Minister Mohamed Shia...

New York, United States - The United States will begin talks with Iraq on the withdrawal of US troops from this Middle Eastern country, CNN reported on Wednesday citing sources familiar with the matter. "The US and Iraq are close to agreement on starting the Higher Military Commission dialogue that was...

The US strikes come against an already explosive regional backdrop, fueled by the war in Gaza between Washington's ally Israel and the Iranian-backed Hamas. The US Central Command said the strikes targeted Ketaeb Hizbollah "headquarters, storage, and training locations for rocket, missile, and one-way attack UAV (drone) capabilities".

Built more than a decade ago at the height of Iraq's civil war which tore apart the multi-faith, multi-ethnic country, authorities say the wall must remain to prevent the threat of jihadist violence, even as security has gradually improved across the country. There are three tightly controlled checkpoints in the...

Al-Asad airbase was targeted by 15 rockets" fired from Anbar province, which is home to the military base, an Iraqi police official from the region told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said 13 of the projectiles were shot down by anti-air defenses but that "two fell on the...

Doha, Qatar - Roberto Mancini warned Saudi Arabia against falling victim to the kind of Asian Cup shock suffered by favorites Japan when his side face Kyrgyzstan on Sunday. Saudi Arabia fought back to beat Oman 2-1 in stoppage time in their opening match in Qatar and can seal their place...

US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have been hit by some 140 attacks since mid-October, according to the Pentagon -- many of which have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. On January 4, a US strike in central Baghdad killed a pro-Iran commander who Washington said...

Doha, Qatar - Aymen Hussein scored two first-half headers as Iraq stunned Asian Cup favorites Japan 2-1 on Friday to reach the knockout rounds. It was Japan's first Asian Cup group-stage defeat in 26 matches and set them on a potential collision course with South Korea in the last 16 in...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had destroyed the "Zionist regime's spy headquarters in the Kurdistan region of Iraq." The strike came "in response to the recent vicious actions of the Zionist regime which martyred the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and the resistance front," a Guards statement carried by Iran's...

The IRGC also hit targets in Syria with ballistic missiles, including the "gathering places of commanders and main elements related to recent terrorist operations, particularly the Islamic State group", their Sepah News service reported. It added that the strike on Syria was in response to recent attacks by terrorist groups...

Qamishli, Syria - Hundreds of northeast Syrian villages and towns have lost power after Turkish strikes pounded electricity stations and infrastructure, the region's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration said on Monday. The Kurdish administration said Turkey launched a slew of strikes since Friday, mostly concentrated on infrastructure including power stations and oil refineries....

Violence involving Iran-aligned groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria has surged since the war in Gaza began in early October. The Houthis, who say they are acting in solidarity with Gaza, have carried out a growing number of attacks on what they deem Israeli-linked shipping on the key Red...

The Turkish ministry said the strikes had targeted 29 locations including "caves, bunkers, shelters and oil installations" belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the YPG (People's Protection Units), a Syrian Kurdish militia which is a central element of US-allied forces in a coalition against Islamic State. Meanwhile, 113...

Britain, the United States and eight allies said the strikes aimed to "de-escalate tensions". But Iran and other governments condemned the Western action or warned that unrest could worsen. The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting on the strikes on Friday, days after adopting a resolution...

"We have repeatedly expressed our views to the authorities of the countries of the region, including Iraq, and declared that the presence of American forces in any form whatsoever... would not help to maintain stability and peace," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

Sudani, whose government relies on support from Tehran-aligned parties, has repeatedly said in recent weeks he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq. But the latest remarks came amid soaring regional tensions, with the repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war, raging for nearly three months, increasingly felt in Iraq and...

Baghdad, Iraq - A "US strike" in Baghdad on Thursday killed a military commander of the Hashed al-Shaabi, the ex-paramilitary force said, with an Iraq security official reporting two deaths in a drone attack. "A drone targeted the logistical support headquarters of Hashed al-Shaabi," mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units integrated into...

Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, who was sworn in as emir last month, named Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem Al-Sabah, a popular ex-foreign minister, as the new premier. He replaces Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah, son of the late emir whose death has raised hopes of a political shift in the country.

The rally, called by a foundation which counts Bilal Erdogan, the son of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among its members started after crowds performed morning prayers at Istanbul's iconic mosques, including Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

Air strikes in eastern Syria "likely" launched by Israel killed at least 19 pro-Iran fighters, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "19 pro-Iranian fighters, including four Syrians, and six Iraqis, were killed and more than 18 were wounded" in at least nine air strikes overnight...

Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas. The attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade, prompting the United States to set...