Furthermore, he has also held the position of governor of Maysan,[8] and mayor of Amarah.[9] In 2025, The Muslim 500 included him among the most influential Muslim politicians.[10]
Early life and education
Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani was born in Baghdad on 4 March 1970,[11] to a middle-class ShiaArab[1] family.[12] Hailing originally from the province of Maysan in southern Iraq, his father worked as an employee at the Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Iraq.[13] When Al-Sudani was around 10 years old, his father as well as five other members of his family were executed for being members of the Islamic Dawa Party, a banned party at the time that opposed the Ba'athist rule of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.[14]
Before the invasion of Iraq, al-Sudani lived a modest apolitical life as an agricultural engineer. In 1997, al-Sudani was appointed to the Maysan Agriculture Office, where he was subsequently appointed to a number of senior positions in the office such as the head of the Agriculture department, head of the Ali Al-Sharqi City Agriculture department, and head of the Agricultural Production department. He was also the supervising engineer in the National Research Program with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.[15]
Political career
After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Sudani joined the Islamic Dawa Party and worked as a coordinator between the Maysan province administration and the Coalition Provisional Authority. In 2004 he was appointed mayor of Amarah City, and in the 2005 provincial elections he was elected as a member of Maysan Provincial Council. He was re-elected in 2009 and appointed governor of Maysan.[16]
Ministerial positions
He was appointed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as the Minister of Human Rights after the 2010 parliamentary election, being approved by parliament on 21 December 2010.
His ministry was in charge of finding mass graves in Iraq from the regime of Saddam Hussein. Two were found in 2011, one in Anbar and another in Al Diwaniyah.[17][18] During 2011, he was briefly chairman of the Supreme National De-Baathification Commission/Justice and Accountability Commission for De-Ba'athification, which had the power to bar individuals from government for links to the former ruling Ba'ath Party.[citation needed] He coordinated with the ministry of migration to help Iraqi citizens residing in Syria to return to Iraq during the Syrian Civil War.[19]
He was minister in August 2014 when thousands of Yazidis were massacred in northern Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh). He described it as "a vicious atrocity" and said it was the "responsibility of the international community to take a firm stand against the Daesh" and to "start the war on Daesh to stop genocides and atrocities against civilians".[20] He asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into crimes against civilians committed by ISIL. He described their crimes as amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity.[21] "We are facing a terrorist monster", he explained. "Their movement must be curbed. Their assets should be frozen and confiscated. Their military capacities must be destroyed."[22]
He was appointed minister of Labour and Social Affairs in 2014, and his post in the ministry of human rights was succeeded by Mohammed Mahdi Ameen al-Bayati in October 2014, when the government of Haider al-Abadi took office.[23]
In December 2019, al-Sudani announced his departure from the Islamic Dawa Party and in January 2019, he announced the formation of the Furatayn Movement. His is a reformist-centrist party, which he said was born out of the necessity to "correct the trajectory of the State against corrupters".[25]
In a bid to end the 2022 Iraqi political crisis, the coordination framework officially nominated Al-Sudani for the post of prime minister in May 2022.[26] He succeeded in forming a government, which was approved by the Council of Representatives on 27 October.[27]
In January 2023, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, al-Sudani defended the presence of U.S. troops in his country and set no timetable for their withdrawal, referring to the U.S. and NATO troop contingents that train and assist Iraqi units in countering the Islamic State, but largely stay out of combat, though he mentioned that the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq is no longer needed.[28]
The Economist has said that al-Sudani is affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and his tenure has seen their influence further increase in Iraq.[29] His government has increased the number of troops for the PMF by 116,000, increasing the total number to around 230,000, and has set its budget to US$2.7 billion. It has also launched a building company affiliated with the PMF, named after killed PMF commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis; the company gives preferential access to government contractors and the government has awarded the company with strategic land.[29]
On 20 July 2023, al-Sudani expelled the Swedish ambassador to Iraq and revoked work permits for Swedish companies after Sweden permitted a planned Quran burning.[30]
On 10 October 2023, al-Sudani arrived in Moscow and met with Russian president Vladimir Putin.[31] On 21 October 2023, he called for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.[32]
Al-Sudani with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in November 2023
In November 2023, during a meeting with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, he described the Hamas attack on Israel as "a result of years of criminal policies of the Zionist regime against the people of Gaza."[33]
On 17 February 2024, he met with German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Munich while he was attending the Munich Security Conference where he met with various world leaders.[34]
In May 2024, he attended the memorial ceremony for President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash, in the Iranian capital, Tehran.[38]
In September 2024 at the United Nations General Assembly he condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and met various leaders who discussed bilateral relations with him.[39]
During the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives against the Assad regime, he stated that "what is happening in Syria today is in the interest of the Zionist entityIsrael, which deliberately bombed Syrian Army sites in a way that paved the way for terrorist groups to control additional areas in Syria."[40] However, he avoided intervening in the conflict on the side of Bashar al-Assad despite pressure to do so from some domestic groups.[41]
On 29 July 2025, in an interview with The Associated Press, al-Sudani revealed that during the Twelve Day War, the Iraqi government thwarted 29 attempts by pro-Iran militias to launch drones and missiles towards Israel, stating, "we know that the (Israeli) government had a policy — and still does — of expanding the war in the region ... we made sure not to give any excuse to any party to target Iraq".[44]
On 9 September 2025, al-Sudani announced on Twitter that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher who had been kidnapped by Kataib Hezbollah, had been released after 903 days of captivity. US State Department spokesperson stated that her release came after "a decisive partnership with [Iraqi] Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani".[45][46]
His "Iraq First" agenda has been compared to that of the U.S. President Donald Trump. Newsweek drew parallels between Trump's MAGA slogan and al-Sudani's leadership, describing the latter as a man who wants to "Make Iraq Great Again". During his tenure, al-Sudani has repeatedly emphasized the importance of strong Iraq–United States relations.[49]
Personal life
Al-Sudani is married and has four sons. His firstborn, Mustafa (born 2001), has a son named Mohammed.[50]
↑Kadow, May; Yavorsky, Erik (18 November 2022). "Who Is Mohammed Shia al-Sudani?". washingtoninstitute.org. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
Asterisk (*) indicate an acting head of government·Italics indicate a head of government of non-UN member state
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