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...

The kingdom had already condemned Wednesday's incident in which an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden stomped on the Muslim holy book and set several pages alight. The foreign ministry summoned the ambassador on Sunday to urge Sweden "to stop all actions that directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the...

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 - Iraq's Ministry of Oil has said that the country's crude oil exports reached over 100 million barrels in June, generating revenue of approximately $7.115 billion. The preliminary statistics issued by the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) revealed that the majority of these exports - amounting to almost...

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...

Tehran, Iran-- Iran has earned revenue to the tune of $54 billion last year from the export of oil, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimate. OPEC members earned about $888 billion in net oil export revenue last year. That’s what the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates in...

NEW YORK, US- Advisor to the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Salem Al Zaabi called on the international community to address the root causes of intolerance and extremism, including countering disinformation on the internet and social media. Al Zaabi, who led the UAE’s delegation to the biennial United Nations Counter-Terrorism...

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.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - The Finance and Business Center in Iraq is set to become a hub for trading and selling both governmental and private securities, according to the Prime Minister's financial advisor Mudhar Muhammad Salih. In an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Salih emphasized the center's role in...

Sharjah, UAE -- The Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) and the International Development Bank (IDB)-UAE have launched Ma'an (Together) initiative to strengthen Emirati and Iraqi private sectors. The two entities aim to achieve this by using Ma'an to encourage private sector businesses to broaden their operations...

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.

London, UK--Volume of trade exchanges between the UK and Iraq has exceeded one billion dollars and imports and exports between the two nations have been significantly growing, a senior British official said on Friday. Lord Tariq Ahmad, the British Minister of State for the Middle East, North Africa and South...

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.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and four others wounded in a pre-dawn attack in the country's north blamed on the Islamic State group, a military official said. The assailants used automatic weapons in the attack on their barracks, about 25 kilometers west of the city of Kirkuk, the official said...

The strategic partnerships between the two sides seek to focus on peace, security, stability, integration, and economic prosperity in the Middle East.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Riyadh and Washington urged Western governments Thursday to repatriate citizens who joined the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, where thousands still languish in prisons or camps. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said it was "disheartening and absolutely unacceptable" that some wealthy countries had not...

The visit by Faisal Mekdad comes weeks after the Arab League agreed to end Syria's suspension from the 22-member bloc, bringing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad back into the regional fold after years of civil war. Iraq remained an ally to Damascus throughout the wider Arab boycott, never severing...

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani has declared the formation of a new naval coalition. This alliance, encompassing regional powers like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Iraq, aims to enhance maritime security and underlines the increasing recognition of the need for regional synergy in establishing security.

Syriac-speaking communities in Iraq and Syria have declined over the years, owing to decades of conflict driving many to seek homes in safer countries.

Iraq's supreme court ruled as unconstitutional the extended mandate of autonomous Kurdistan's parliament, rendering invalid votes taken by the chamber since last year. It is the latest source of tension between Iraq's federal authorities and Kurdistan whose leaders had denounced amendments in the federal budget affecting oil sales from the...

Sharjah, UAE--With an aim to bolster the country's capital markets, the Sharjah-based company Dana Gas has revealed that it will raise its foreign ownership limit to 100 percent. The company said that it had obtained the approval of the regulatory authorities to raise the percentage of foreign ownership from 49...

Baghdad, Iraq--Iraq is looking to deepen cooperation with Iran in the transport sector and facilitate the movement of pilgrims between the two countries. The issue was discussed in a meeting in Baghdad between the Iranian and Iraqi ministers focusing on the ways to expand cooperation between the two countries. The meeting...

In a country where political agreements are concluded after endless negotiations between political parties, the objection of the Kurds is delaying a parliamentary vote on the budget. The changes in budget text says the Kurdish region must first deliver 400,000 barrels of oil daily to the federal authorities, along with...

Iraq looks to have renewable energies cover a third of its electricity needs by 2030 and has signed several contracts for solar plants. Its huge oil reserves are enough to produce crude at current rates for another century, but as the world works to wean itself off hydrocarbons, the country...

Iraq presented an ambitious plan to turn itself into a regional transportation hub by developing its road and rail infrastructure, linking Europe with the Gulf and other Middle East countries. Once completed, the US$17 billion project known as the "Route of Development" would stretch 1,200 kilometers from Turkey to the...

Muteb Alshathri, acting CEO PIF, told the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council in the kingdom that the Saudi-Iraqi Investment Company will invest in mining, real estate, infrastructure, mining, agriculture and financial services. In October last year, the fund announced it will establish five companies aimed at investing in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman...

The Iraqi presidency said the duchess delivered a written message from King Charles III -- who had himself visited Iraq in 2004. The last time a British royal visited Iraq was in 2006 when the late Prince Philip visited a base for British troops deployed to Iraq as part of...

The new envoy, Alireza Enayati, previously served as Iran's ambassador to Kuwait, assistant to the foreign minister and director general of Gulf affairs at the foreign ministry, the English-language Iran Daily said. There was no immediate confirmation of his appointment from the foreign ministry of the Islamic republic.

Doha, Qatar-- Qatar is keen to obtain rights for oil and gas exploration in Iraq, according to Iraq's oil minister who was speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum. Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani confirmed that Qatar is interested in participating in obtaining rights for oil and gas exploration in...

Lawmakers came to blows in Iraqi Kurdistan's parliament in a dispute between the two biggest parties over the upcoming polls in the autonomous northern region. Parliamentarians were seen climbing desks and tearing up papers in a video posted to the legislature's YouTube channel, while footage shared by Iraqi media showed...

The elegant water craft have long been vastly outnumbered by modern, motorised vessels and are threatened further as Iraq's waterways suffer from droughts linked to climate woes.

Amman, Jordan-- Jordan and Iraq have discussed ways to boost bilateral cooperation in order to develop trade through Karama border crossing. The discussions were held in a meeting between Jordanian and Iraq ministers in Baghdad, which also focused on ways to combat terrorism, extremism, enhancing border security, countering smuggling and...

Known to his inner circle as "beyefendi" (sir) and to admirers as "reis" (the chief), Erdogan prides himself on being able to woo doubters through tireless campaigning. This passion has helped him and his party win more than a dozen local and national elections, allowing Erdogan to claim a people's...

DUBAI, UAE - Conflict-plagued countries in the Middle East are among the most vulnerable to climate change but are almost entirely excluded from meaningful financing to mitigate its effects, aid groups warned on Thursday. In a joint report focusing on Iraq, Syria and Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross...

ARBIL, IRAQ- Officials in Iraqi Kurdistan say Baghdad is still waiting to reach a "final agreement" with Ankara to resume oil exports to Turkey, where the results of tightly-contested presidential elections hang in the balance. After defying Baghdad and independently exporting crude through Turkey for nearly a decade, Iraq's autonomous...

TEHRAN, IRAN- Iran has summoned Iraq's ambassador to protest over the presence of Iranian opposition groups at an official ceremony in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, media reported on Sunday. Quoting the foreign ministry, ISNA news agency said that during Saturday's meeting Tehran expressed its "strong objection" to the invitation of members...

Tehran, Iran--Iran's trade with six Arab states has vaulted to $35.11 billion in the fiscal year of 2022-2023, according to the latest data released by the Islamic Republic. According to Iran Customs Administration, the Islamic Republic traded 58.25 million tons of goods (excluding crude oil exports) worth $35.11 billion with...

The Kurdish regional government had for years earned billions of dollars in revenues exporting crude oil to Turkey without the Iraqi federal government's approval. But the exports were suspended in late March when international arbitrators ruled in favor of the Iraqi federal government's right to control oil exports going through...

On Thursday the Kurdish authorities said in a statement that "the Kurdistan regional government and the federal authorities have reached a (final) deal on the resumption of oil exports". Hours later, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani said crude exports would resume from Saturday.

IS militants used sledgehammers and power tools to deface ancient statues and pre-Islamic treasures housed in the museum.

BEIRUT, LEBANON -  An air strike killed a major drug smuggler and his family in southern Syria on Monday, a war monitor said, attributing the strike to Jordan though Amman did not immediately confirm. Drug dealer "Marai al-Ramthan, his wife and six children were killed in a Jordanian air force strike"...

The railway track will connect Iran's southwestern town of Shalamcheh with Basra in Iraq in what will be the first such link between the two countries. In this regard, the two signed an MoU in Basra. It outlines the route for the railway line, location of passenger stations, a timeline...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ -  Iraq Prime Minister Muhammad Shia'a Al-Sudani said that the country is continuing regional economic communication. A statement issued by the Prime Minister's media office said, "Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani received the Lebanese Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayyad and the Deputy Director of the Lebanese State Security...

An Iraqi court sentenced to death a former policeman convicted of killing prominent academic Hisham al-Hashemi, whose murder in 2020 sparked condemnation in the country and abroad. The sentence against Ahmed Hamdawi Oueid for killing Hashemi, an expert on Sunni extremism and a government security adviser, was handed down by...

The bloc's foreign ministers unanimously agree to allow government delegations from Syria to resume their participation in meetings ahead of a key summit in Jeddah on May 19.