Mostafa Salimi, one of the escapees, was arrested by authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan and extradited to Iran. (Twitter) May 15, 2020 Long hailed as a haven for minority groups, Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdistan region has turned into treacherous territory for many Iranian dissidents and refugees escaping persecution from Iranian authorities, rights activists say. [...]
Iraqi protesters burning Iranian flag during demonstration in Karbala, Iraq, November 6, 2019. (AP) By Eli Lake May 14, 2020 When US missiles killed Iran’s most important general and its most important militia leader in early January as they were visiting Baghdad, it looked like American forces would be kicked out of Iraq. Iraq’s [...]
Anti-government protesters take cover while Iraq security forces fire during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 4, 2019. (AP) May 13, 2020 Iraqi security forces have raided the office of an Iran-aligned party in the southern province of Basra and arrested militiamen who fired on demonstrators, killing one protester and injuring several others [...]
An Iraqi soldiers stands guard in front US military air carrier at the Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq. (AFP) By Behnam Ben Taleblu May 8, 2020 There is a growing consensus that attacks against U.S. facilities and personnel in Iraq by Iran-backed Shiite Militia Groups (SMGs) are increasingly becoming a “new normal.” These [...]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Iraq in May amid increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran. (AP) May 7, 2020 Iraq has succeeded forming a government after months of instability, and the United States welcomed the move by extending a waiver on Iran sanctions to ease pressure on the new leader. In [...]
The new commander of IRGC's Qods Force Esmail Qaani (L) and Lebanese Shiite cleric Muhammad Kawtharani, who has long spearheaded Hezbollah's Iraq policy. (Mashregh) May 05, 2020 Last month the United States offered a prize for providing "any information on the activities, networks and colleagues" of a senior Lebanese Hezbollah official, thought to [...]
The PMU that emerged in the fall of 2014 was also made up of territorial brigades linked to kay Shi’ite shrines. (CNN) April 30, 2020 Iraq’s politics may be getting even more divided after the acting Prime Minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, sought to affirm his office’s control over key Iraqi paramilitary groups. The powerful [...]
A member of medical team checks the body temperature of an Iraqi man upon arrival from Iran, east of Basra city, Feb 20, 2020. (EPA-EFE) April 30, 2020 Clutching her tablet in her lap, Rafiqa Ibrahim Radi, an Iraqi mother of three, tears up while watching videos of her newborn son Seif. Lying in [...]
An Iraqi protester hits a poster showing the leader of the IRGC-Quds Force, Gen. Qassim Soleimani with a shoe during ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2019. (AP) By Track Persia April 29, 2020 Iraqi politicians including those affiliated to Iran have chosen Mustafa al-Kadhimi as Iraq’s interim prime minister to [...]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US special representative on Iran Brian Hook (background) arrive to al-Bateen Air Base in Abu Dhabi on September 19, 2019. (AFP) April 27, 2020 The United States has renewed a waiver for Iraq to continue importing Iranian electricity, a State Department official said on Sunday, but [...]
