The Prime Minister of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister.
The Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA (ایرنا), is the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Founded on 13 November 1934 as Pars News Agency during the time of Reza Shah, it is government-funded and controlled under the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. The agency also publishes the newspaper Iran. As of September 2021, the Managing Director of IRNA is Ali Naderi. IRNA has 60 offices in Iran and 30 more in various countries around the world.
The Ministry of Defence is the Iraqi government agency responsible for defence of Iraq. It is also involved with internal security.
Adnan Dirjal is an Iraqi former footballer, national team coach, and as of May 2020 heads the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sports. He was one of Iraq's most prominent national team captains, who played as a defender.
Corruption is pervasive at all levels of government in Iraq. In 2021, President Barham Salih stated that US$150 billion of oil money had been stolen and smuggled out of Iraq in corrupt deals since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Endemic corruption pervades Iraq's oil and gas sectors, which still accounts for more than 99 percent of the country’s exports and 85 percent of the government’s budget. The Iraqi economy is predominantly a cash economy, making it almost impossible to trace the amount or the path the money follows.
The departure of US troops from Iraq in 2011 ended the period of occupation that had begun with the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The time since U.S. withdrawal has been marked by a renewed Iraqi insurgency and by a spillover of the Syrian civil war into Iraq. By 2013, the insurgency escalated into a renewed war, the central government of Iraq being opposed by ISIL and various factions, primarily radical Sunni forces during the early phase of the conflict. The war ended in 2017 with an Iraqi government and allied victory, however ISIL continues a low-intensity insurgency in remote parts of the country.
Khaled Yassin al-Obaidi is an Iraqi politician who served as the defense minister of Iraq from 2014 to 2016.
Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi or Saedi is an Iraqi General who played a critical role in defeating ISIS during the War in Iraq (2013–2017) and who served as the head of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) from 2020 to 2023.
A series of demonstrations, marches, sit-ins and civil disobedience took place in Iraq from 2019 until 2021. It started on 1 October 2019, a date which was set by civil activists on social media, spreading mainly over the central and southern provinces of Iraq, to protest corruption, high unemployment, political sectarianism, inefficient public services and foreign interventionism. Protests spread quickly, coordinated over social media, to other provinces in Iraq. As the intensity of the demonstrations peaked in late October, protesters’ anger focused not only on the desire for a complete overhaul of the Iraqi government but also on driving out Iranian influence, including Iranian-aligned Shia militias. The government, with the help of Iranian-backed militias responded brutally, using live bullets, marksmen, hot water, hot pepper gas and tear gas against protesters, leading to many deaths and injuries.
Mustafa Abdul Latif Mishatat, known as Mustafa al-Kadhimi, alternatively spelt Mustafa al-Kadhimy, is an Iraqi politician, lawyer and bureaucrat and former intelligence officer who served as the Prime Minister of Iraq from May 2020 to October 2022. He previously served as columnist for several news outlets and the Director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, originally appointed in June 2016. He briefly served as Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs in an acting capacity in 2020. The latter part of his tenure closely followed the 2022 Iraqi political crisis.
Events in the year 2021 in Iraq.
The 2020 storming of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Headquarters was a riot and violent attack against the Kurdistan Democratic Party on Saturday, October 17, 2020. The angry Popular Mobilization Forces supporters stormed the KDP offices in Karrada district in central Baghdad after the former Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview with Alhurra that "the Iraqi Government needs to clean up the Green Zone from the presence of the Popular Mobilization Forces" to protect the major road connected to Baghdad International Airport. The demonstrators set the KDP building on fire and burned Kurdish flags. The Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi decided to dismiss the manager of security forces in Baghdad general Jawad Al Daraji after Iraqi security abstained from preventing the protestors.
Abu Yasser al-Issawi was a senior ISIS commander and Iraqi terrorist with the title of deputy caliph, and leader of the ISIS group in Iraq. He was killed in a military strike by Iraqi security forces in Al-Chai Valley, southern Kirkuk. The successful military strike and his death was announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi after an intelligence-led operation.
On the night of 24 to 25 April 2021, a fire at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, left at least 82 people dead and 110 others injured. The fire was started by the explosion of oxygen tanks designated for COVID-19 patients. A lack of fire detection and suppression systems contributed to the spread of the fire, and many died as a result of being taken off their ventilators to escape. The disaster led to calls for accountability, and the Minister for Health, Hassan al-Tamimi, was suspended by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi the following day.
Democracy in Iraq is a fledgling process, but Iraq achieved a more democratic approach than most surrounding countries. Iraq has a score of 3.51 of ten on the 2021 The Economist Democracy Index, which is considered authoritarian. Iraq scored 0.362 on the V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index in 2023, ranking 3rd in the Middle East and 115th worldwide. Numerous wars, corruption, and civil and ethnic conflict in Iraq have made it difficult for a stable democratic government to emerge.
The 2021 Baghdad clashes were a civil conflict between Iraqi protesters and Iraqi security forces following the 2021 Iraqi election. The protestors were supporters of Iran-backed militias and political parties. The clashes left two dead and more than 125 injured.
On 7 November 2021, the Iraqi Armed Forces reported that Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa Al-Kadhimi survived an assassination attempt that morning. An explosive-laden drone attacked his Baghdad residence while two were shot down. Several members of his security personnel were injured. No one has claimed responsibility, although the general consensus is that it was perpetrated by pro-Iran militias. The assassination attempt was probably connected to the pro-Iran militia supporters who caused the Baghdad clashes two days before.
On January 21, 2022, several Islamic State gunmen raided an Iraqi Army base in rural al-Azim district, Diyala Governorate. At least 11 Iraqi soldiers were killed in their sleep.
Between the parliamentary election in October 2021 and October 2022, there was a political crisis in Iraq, with members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq being unable to form a stable coalition government, or elect a new President. Basic government services such as the civil service and military continued functioning, but the national political system was in deadlock including in respect of almost all major spending and taxation issues. On 27 October 2022, the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani was approved by the Council of Representatives.
Ahmed Taha Hashim Abu Ragheef is an Iraqi military officer with the rank of First Lieutenant General.
