Iraq has banned US gaming platform Roblox over what it described as sexual content, blasphemy and risks of online blackmail against minors, the communications ministry said.

Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the prime minister, said that Iraq identified "the origin of the drones used in the attacks," adding that they were "equipped with warheads of varying weights and were manufactured outside Iraq."

Baghdad, Iraq -- The Iraqi government announced Thursday an agreement to resume crude exports from the autonomous Kurdistan region after a more than two-year halt and amid drone attacks on oil fields. Lucrative oil exports have been a major point of tension between Baghdad and Arbil, with a key pipeline...

Arab leaders meeting Saturday at a summit in Baghdad urged the international community to press for a Gaza ceasefire, as Israel launched an expanded military offensive in the Palestinian territory.

The Arab League is meeting in Baghdad on Saturday to discuss Gaza and other regional crises, but some key leaders are expected to miss the talks that come straight after US President Donald Trump's Gulf tour.

Julani’s appeal comes as Syria signals a shift in its diplomatic tone. Maher Marwan, Damascus’ new governor, told NPR that Syria seeks peace and harbors no hostility toward Israel or any other nation. “We have no plans to interfere with anything that could undermine Israel’s safety. Our people yearn for...

Hassan Shami, Iraq - A decade after Islamic State group extremists rampaged through northern Iraq, Moaz Fadhil and his eight children finally returned to their village after languishing for years in a displacement camp. Their home, Hassan Shami, is just a stone's throw from the tent city where they had been living,...

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...

"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.

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...

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...

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...

Palestinian group Hamas condemned overnight US strikes in Iraq and Syria, saying Washington had poured "oil on the fire" in the Middle East. The US "bears responsibility for the consequences of this brutal aggression against both Iraq and Syria, which pour oil on the fire," the group said in a...

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...

"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.

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...

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...

"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.

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...

"My country, always at the request of the Iraqi authorities, will support the unity, sovereignty and stability of Iraq," said Sanchez during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani. Spain has deployed more than 300 soldiers as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition and NATO's mission in...

The vote is expected to consolidate the position of the ruling Coordination Framework coalition, an Iran-aligned bloc that brings together Shiite Islamist parties with factions of Hashed al-Shaabi, a network of former paramilitary units integrated into the regular army.

Due to US sanctions against Iran, Baghdad cannot pay Tehran directly for its gas. Baghdad's unpaid bills to Tehran for past gas imports amount to some $10 billion, according to the senior official.

Dubai, UAE - As New Delhi once again topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities, across the Middle East, cities were also facing their own environmental challenges, with Kuwait City emerging as the region's most polluted city, according to the latest data from Swiss group IQAir. Kuwait City...

Baghdad, Iraq - An international summit in Baghdad on "regional stability" planned for late November has been postponed due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, an Iraqi official told AFP on Thursday. The third edition of the Baghdad conference "for economic integration and regional stability", co-organised by France, "is postponed until further...

Erected at the entrance to the ancient city of Khorsabad, the sculpture shows the Lamassu, an Assyrian deity with a human head, the body of a bull and the wings of a bird.

Baghdad, Iraq - Saudi banks have offered to fund Iraq's largest housing project, which was previously stalled by South Korea's Hanwha Company due to a financial dispute with the Iraqi government, the official Iraqi daily Alsabah reported on Thursday.  The Bismaya project had already seen the construction of approximately 30,000...

Days after thousands of people took to the streets in the Kurdistan region over unpaid civil service salaries which they blamed on Baghdad, the federal government said it would disburse annually to Iraqi Kurdistan two trillion and one hundred billion dinars to be paid in three equal installments of more...

Baghdad, Iraq--Iraq has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - a member of the World Bank Group - for the development and rehabilitation of Baghdad International Airport. Media Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister stated in a statement that the agreement, which was signed under the sponsorship...

Baghdad, Iraq--A road accident killed 18 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad overnight, the state news agency INA reported Saturday. The "horrible accident" between Dujail and Samarra also injured 15 people, INA said, citing the toll from Khaled Burhan, director of health services in Salaheddine province....

Tehran, Iran - Iran on Monday warned Iraq that it would take action if Baghdad does not honor its commitment by mid-September of disarming Iranian Kurdish rebel groups on its territory. "According to a deal reached between the Iranian and Iraqi governments, the Iraqi government has pledged to disarm armed terrorist...

Baghdad, Iraq - The Iraqi government has launched a project to harness the Associated Petroleum Gas (APG) from the Bin Omar field, an oil reserve located in the Basra Governorate, for generation of electricity.  The project's principal advisor Mounir Bouaziz said that the field's production capacity is scheduled to range...

Underfunded and run down by years of unrest, the zoo's dilapidated facilities make matters worse for its 900 animals, including Siberian tigers.

Baghdad, Iraq - The water flows from Turkey to Iraq have improved at a rate of 500 m3 per second following the agreement between the two countries, the Minister of Water Resources, Aoun Diab, said on Sunday.  “I met with the Turkish ambassador for an hour and a half, and...

Authorities in Iraq -- a key conduit for the amphetamine-type drug -- regularly announce such operations in which large hauls of captagon are seized, often coming from Syria with which it shares 600-kilometre (370 miles) porous border.

Baghdad, Iraq -- Demonstrators marched in the Iraqi and Iranian capitals Friday to denounce Sweden's permission for protests that desecrate the Quran, as Stockholm withdrew staff from its Baghdad embassy. Hundreds of people gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City after Friday prayers, chanting "Yes, yes to Islam, yes, yes to the Quran",...

Designated by the UN as one of the five countries in the world most touched by some effects of climate change, Iraq is experiencing its fourth consecutive summer of drought.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - A powerful alliance of pro-Iran factions in Iraq called on Sunday on Baghdad to pressure the United States to unlock pending payments to Tehran for crucial gas imports. Iraq, ravaged by decades of conflict and international sanctions, relies on gas imported from its eastern neighbor for a third...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ -  Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Mohammed Hamel on Friday stressed the importance of Iraq in the oil and gas sector. Iraqi Ministry of oil said in a statement, “Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani, met GECF Secretary...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ -   Iraq joined the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, the Supreme Judicial Council announced. "The efforts made by the competent courts and the Office of Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing resulted in Iraq winning the membership of the Egmont group," said a statement by the Judicial...

Baghdad, Iraq-- Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid has emphasized the need for reinforcing partnership with Iran in the fields of trade and energy. The president made the remarks during a meeting with an Iranian delegation headed by deputy foreign minister Bagheri Kani in Baghdad. Rashid accentuated the imperative of reinforcing...

Baghdad, Iraq - Saudi Arabia and the UAE have allocated $6 billion to support their operations in Iraq, the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce (FICC) announced on Sunday. The FICC signed an agreement with the two countries to create business councils. The FICC's president Abdul al-Razzaq al-Zuhairi told the...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ -   Total crude oil exports in June reached over 100 million barrels, the Iraqi government said in a statement. The preliminary statistics issued by the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) revealed that total crude oil exports in June generated revenue of approximately US$7.115 billion. The majority of these...

Baghdad, Iraq-- An advisor to Iraq's Prime Minister said the country has effective price monetary policy tools to manage public funds. Mudher Muhammed Salih, the advisor to the Prime Minister for Financial Affairs, emphasized the effectiveness of quantitative and price monetary policy tools in managing public funds and discussed factors...

Iraq has long been transit country for captagon, but officials say it is increasingly becoming a consumer market for the illicit drug. In March, the authorities announced the seizure of three million captagon pills at the Al-Qaim border crossing with Syria.

The probe was launched in December by the current government of Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani after The Washington Post reported allegations of Committee 29 using torture to extract confessions.

The tablet- whose text is written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet- bears the insignia of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king who ruled Nimrod.

Baghdad, Iraq - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC+ alliance have succeeded in achieving stable oil price that will benefit member states and oil industry, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud said Friday. The Saudi minister made the statement during a celebration hosted in...

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was welcomed by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani at the airport, images broadcast on Iraqi media showed. Relations between the two countries saw a long period of tension under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, before easing up over the past decade.

Continuing with its crackdown against drug traffickers in the country, Iraq security forces on Tuesday said they had taken into custody a smuggler and seized some 44,000 captagon tablets meant for sale. Iraq has seen a surge in the consumption of the amphetamine-like drug in recent years as it grapples...

The new bill earmarked 12.7 percent of the budget to the oil-rich autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. It follows long-standing tensions with Kurdish leaders who had previously denounced amendments relating to oil in the budget, resulting in repeated delays to the vote.