Key Takeaways:
- POLITICS: Baghdad, Wasit Governors Removed; Secretary Rubio Warns Sudani Over PMF Law – On July 20, the Baghdad provincial council voted—again—to remove governor Abdulmuttalib al-Alawi. A council document circulating online says that an absolute majority of the council’s 52 members supported retiring Alawi for exceeding the legal retirement age. On July 23, Wasit governor Mohammed al-Mayahi resigned, days after a deadly fire at a shopping mall in al-Kut killed more than 60 people. The resignation followed Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani’s decision to refer Mayahi to an investigative committee. Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani also formally requested Sudani to remove Mayahi amid public outrage. On July 23, PM Sudani received a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss recent drone attacks on oil fields in Kurdistan. Sudani noted the timing of the attacks coincided with the signing of new oil development deals with U.S. companies. During the call, Sudani described current efforts to pass a new Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) law as part of broader security sector reforms. Rubio urged Sudani to hold those responsible for the attacks accountable and prevent further strikes. He also emphasized “the importance of paying salaries in the Kurdistan Region consistently and resuming oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline,” according to a State Department readout. Rubio reiterated “serious U.S. concerns” about the PMF bill, warning that it would institutionalize Iranian influence and armed groups undermining Iraqi sovereignty. The conversation sparked backlash from lawmakers affiliated with armed factions in the PMF, who condemned Rubio’s remarks as “insulting interference.” In other developments, on July 20, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced that it will discontinue the use of the iconic indelible purple ink—used for decades to mark voters’ fingers—during the November election. more…
- SECURITY & HUMANITARIAN: Investigation Offers “Conclusive Findings” on Drone Strikes—But No Names – On July 18, the Iraqi government announced the results of an investigation into drone strikes that targeted air defense radars last month. The findings, shared by PM Sudani’s military spokesperson, did not name perpetrators but offered several “critical and conclusive” details. The drones were launched from locations inside Iraq and were equipped with warheads manufactured abroad. All were of the same model and likely operated by the same entity, according to the spokesperson. Technical analysis of their control systems enabled intelligence teams to trace the attacks to specific actors—though no names were revealed. The June 24 attacks damaged radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and at the Imam Ali Airbase in Nasiriyah. A report by al-Aalem al-Jadeed, citing sources close to the investigation, said the drones were launched from Jurf al-Sakhr and linked to “a political group with a powerful military wing influential in Iraq.” In other developments, on July 19, local sources in Penjwin district (Sulaymaniyah province) said a suspected Turkish drone strike killed one and seriously injured another individual believed to be a PKK member. This marks the first reported clash between Turkey and the PKK inside Iraq since the group began disarmament efforts. more…
- ECONOMY & CLIMATE: Turkey Seeks Pipeline Deal Renewal, Changes; Baghdad Sends Funds to Erbil – On July 21, Iraqi oil officials said Turkey has expressed interest in renewing the Kirkuk – Ceyhan oil pipeline agreement. Ankara said this week that the deal, originally signed in 1973 and extended in 2010, will expire in July 2026. The officials said Ankara sent Baghdad a new draft agreement that goes beyond the expiring agreement to include cooperation on other energy initiatives. A Turkish official said that Ankara wants to revive the 1.6 million bpd pipeline, which has been inactive since March 2023, noting its potential to become a “highly active and strategic pipeline for the region.” On July 22, Iraq’s Finance Ministry confirmed it had released funds to cover May salaries for Kurdistan Region public employees, in line with the latest Baghdad-Erbil agreement. The ministry said the KRG “committed to delivering current oil production” to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), and also transferred IQD 120 billion (~$91 million) in non-oil revenues for May—a significant increase over previous contributions. However, Iraqi oil officials have not yet confirmed receipt of KRG oil deliveries. In other developments, on July 20, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court dismissed lawsuits seeking to void energy deals between the KRG and two U.S. firms. On July 21, Erbil officials said a new drinking water project enabled the shutdown of nearly 500 wells as part of efforts to preserve groundwater. On July 22, the Oil Ministry signed a contract with Schlumberger to develop the Akkaz gas field. On July 24, the government launched a long-delayed seawater desalination project in Basra, aimed at addressing chronic freshwater shortages. more…
For more background on most of the institutions, key actors, political parties, and locations mentioned in our takeaways or in the stories that follow, see the ISHM Reference Guide.
POLITICS: Baghdad, Wasit Governors Removed; Secretary Rubio Warns Sudani Over PMF Law
On July 20, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced that its board of commissioners decided to abandon the use of indelible purple ink in the November election. The ink, which is used to mark the index fingers of voters after they cast their ballots, has been an icon of Iraqi elections since it was first introduced in the January 2005 National Assembly elections. The IHEC announcement did not explain the rationale behind the decision.
On July 20, the Baghdad provincial council voted for the second time this month to sack governor Abdulmuttalib al-Alawi. An official council document circulating online says that an absolute majority of the council’s 52 members voted in favor of retiring Alawi for surpassing the legal retirement age. The vote came two weeks after an initial failed attempt by members of the Baghdad provincial council to sack Alawi and replace him with council member Haider Mohan amid infighting within the State of Law bloc, to which Alawi and his rival both belong. Alawi argued in a statement that the vote to oust him was illegal and violated the bylaws of the council. Unlike last time, when the State of Law bloc reinstated Alawi as governor, and fired Mohan from its ranks, this time Alawi’s bloc did not come to his aid and has yet to make an attempt to repeal the vote.
On July 23, the governor of Wasit province, Mohammed al-Mayahi, announced his resignation days after a deadly fire broke out at a shopping mall in the provincial capital of al-Kut killing more than 60 people. The provincial council elected Hadi Majid al-Hammashi, who served as Mayahi’s adviser for energy affairs, as the new governor. The resignation announcement came hours after Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani endorsed the recommendations of a fact-finding mission to refer Mayahi and other civil defense officials in Wasit to an investigation committee to determine their role in the public safety shortcomings that led to the deadly incident.Additionally, parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani had sent a formal request to Sudani asking him to remove Mayahi after the fire caused widespread public outrage.
On July 23, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani received a phone call from Secretary of State Marco Rubio during which they discussed bilateral relations, regional developments, and efforts to preserve recent ceasefire agreements with Iran, a statement by Sudani’s office said. The two sides discussed recent drone attacks on oil fields in Kurdistan and joint efforts with the Global Coalition to monitor the sources of those attacks, the statement added. Sudani noted the peculiar timing of the attacks, which took place as his Oil Ministry signed new oil field development deals with U.S. energy companies. During the call, Sudani described recent legislative efforts to pass a new law for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) as part of his government’s plans for security sector reforms. For his part, Rubio urged Sudani to take action to hold the groups behind the attacks on energy infrastructure accountable and prevent similar attacks in the future. Rubio also highlighted “the importance of paying Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) salaries consistently and resuming oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline,” according to a readout of the call by the State Department. Rubio also reiterated to Sudani that there are “serious U.S. concerns with the Popular Mobilization Commission (PMC) bill…emphasizing that any such legislation would institutionalize Iranian influence and armed terrorist groups undermining Iraq’s sovereignty,” the State Department’s readout added. News of the conversation sparked angry reactions from lawmakers affiliated with armed factions that are part of the PMF, who condemned Rubio’s “insulting” interference in Iraq’s affairs.
Sources cited in this section include: INA, al-Sumaria, ISHM archive, Iraq Observer, Rudaw, Baghdad Today, AP, Iraqi PM’s office, State Department, al-Aalem al-Jadeed.
SECURITY & HUMANITARIAN: Investigation Offers “Conclusive Findings” on Drone Strikes—But No Names
On July 18, the Iraqi government announced the results of investigations about drone strikes that targeted the country’s air defense radars last month. The investigation’s findings, presented by the military spokesperson for Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, stopped short of identifying the culprits. According to the spokesperson, Sabah al-Numan, the investigation led to several “critical and conclusive” findings, including the locations from which the drones used in the attacks were launched, which were all inside Iraq. Investigators were also able to identify the origin of the drones, which according to Numan, carried warheads of various weights that had been manufactured outside of Iraq. The one-way attack drones themselves were of the same model, suggesting that the attacks were conducted by the same entity, the spokesperson added. Furthermore, investigators conducted a comprehensive technical analysis of the control and communications systems used to operate the drones, which enabled intelligence teams to gather detailed data leading to the parties involved in executing the attacks, Numan explained without divulging any names. The June 24 attacks had destroyed or damaged two radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and at the Imam Ali airbase in Nasiriyah. Commentators close to Iran-backed militias had celebrated the destruction of the radars, and accused the government of allowing them to be used to detect Iranian strikes against Israel. A report by al-Aalem al-Jadeed based on conversations with sources close to the investigation team says the launch site the findings referred to was Jurf al-Sakhr and that the attacks were carried out by “a political group with an important military wing that’s influential in Iraq.” (Editor’s note: Jurf al-Sakhr, a subdistrict of Babylon province located southwest of Baghdad, is known as a base for the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia.)
On July 19, local sources in the Penjwin district of Sulaymaniyah province said that a suspected Turkish drone strike targeted two individuals who were traveling on a motorcycle (a car in other reports) in the subdistrict of Garamk. One of the targeted individuals, thought to be members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was killed, while the other was seriously injured. This is the first indication of fighting between Turkey and the PKK inside Iraq since the group’s members began laying down their weapons as part of a peace process.
Sources cited in this section include: INA, ISHM archive, social media, al-Aalem al-Jadeed, Rudaw, al-Sumaria, ISHM archive, Iraq Observer.
ECONOMY & CLIMATE: Turkey Seeks Pipeline Deal Renewal, Changes; Baghdad Sends Funds to Erbil
On July 20, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court dismissed two cases filed by members of parliament’s legal and oil and gas committees against the KRG demanding the nullification of its recent energy deals with U.S. energy firms HKN and Western Zagros. The two deals, which were signed in May, deal with the development of the Miran and Topkhana-Kurdamir blocks in the Kurdistan region. News of the deals, which KRG officials said are worth an estimated $110 billion, was met with objections from Iraq’s federal government. Iraq’s Oil Minister said the deals were “null and void,” stressing that “contracts like this should be signed by the federal government.”
On July 21, Iraqi oil officials said that the Turkish Ministry of Energy sent a letter to the Ministry of Oil expressing its desire to renew their agreement on the use of the oil export pipeline that links Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The statement follows an announcement by Ankara that the deal and all related protocols will expire on July 27, 2026. The deal, known as the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline Agreement, was originally signed in 1973 and was extended in 2010 for an additional 15 years. According to the Iraqi official, Ankara has sent Baghdad a new draft agreement for energy cooperation that goes beyond the expiring agreement to include cooperation in oil, gas, petrochemical, and electricity projects. The official told the state news agency that the Oil Ministry “is in the process of reviewing the draft agreement sent by the Turkish side” and hopes to reach an arrangement that serves the interests of both sides. The 1.6 million bpd pipeline has been shut down since March 2023 when an arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad in a dispute over allowing the KRG to use the pipeline without Baghdad’s consent. The ruling required Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in damages for the unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018. A Turkish official told Reuters that Ankara wants to revive the pipeline, noting its potential to become a “highly active and strategic pipeline for the region.” The official added that the pipeline is important for the Development Road – a planned trade route linking the Gulf to Europe through Turkey and Iraq. “A new and vibrant phase for the Iraq-Turkey pipeline will benefit both countries and the region as a whole,” the official explained, without offering specifics about the new draft developed by Turkey.
On July 21, water officials in Erbil said they had shut down nearly 500 water wells as part of a plan to stop the rapid decline in groundwater reserves. Within the next three months, authorities seek to eliminate a total of 1,000 wells out of more than 1,400 across Erbil, according to officials in Erbil’s Water and Sewer Directorate. In parallel, the provincial government has launched an expedited project to deliver drinking water to parts of Erbil where locals have been digging ever deeper wells to find water. The first phase of the project with a capacity to supply 480,000 cubic meters per day was inaugurated this week. The work included extending more than 200 kilometers of pipes to deliver water to more than two dozen neighborhoods. A second phase is expected to be completed by the end of the year, the officials added. In related news this week, the KRG launched a project to build rainwater harvesting dams in five locations around Erbil to help replenish local aquifers and protect against flooding during the rainy season.
On July 22, Iraq’s Finance Ministry said that it has begun releasing the funds required to pay the salaries of public sector employees in the Kurdistan region for the month of May in accordance with the agreement announced last week between Baghdad and Erbil. In a statement, the ministry noted that the funds were released after the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) “has committed to delivering current production from oil fields in the region to the Oil Marketing Company (SOMO).” The ministry also confirmed that the KRG Finance Ministry has deposited IQD 120 billion (approximately $91 million) in the Central Bank account of the federal Finance Ministry as remittance for non-petroleum revenue generated in May 2025. This amount is significantly higher than previous deposits made by the KRG, which averaged about IQD 50 billion (approximately $38 million). The Finance Ministry did not provide details about the exact amount of oil the KRG has delivered to the federal government. As of Tuesday, Iraqi oil officials were saying that no oil deliveries had taken place yet. Under the new arrangement, the KRG is to deliver 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to the federal government, while the latter would reimburse the KRG for the cost of oil production and transportation for that volume at a rate of $16 per barrel. Another 50,000 bpd from the KRG production would be allocated to domestic use with the amount’s revenue returning to the federal treasury after deducting the cost of production, transportation, and refining, which would be initially covered by the KRG. Total oil production in Kurdistan was estimated to be approximately 280,000 bpd before recent drone attacks on oil fields forced energy companies to suspend nearly 200,000 bpd of production.
On July 22, Iraq’s Oil Ministry formally signed a contract with global energy service company Schlumberger to develop the Akkaz gas field in Anbar province. The first phase of the development plan aims to increase production from 40 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMcf/d) to 100 MMcf/d within a year, according to Oil Minister Hayan Abdulghani. Iraq ultimately seeks to produce 400 MMcf/d from Akkaz, the minister added. The Iraqi government had given the deal with Schlumberger the green light in April amid reports that Baghdad was unhappy with the limited progress made by the previous operator of the field, Ukrainian energy company Ukrzemresurs. Speaking at the signing ceremony on Tuesday, Abdulghani confirmed that Iraq has canceled the deal with Ukrzemresurs, which was signed a little more than a year ago in April 2024. The field, whose development was once awarded to Korea’s Kogas prior to the war with ISIS, has seen limited development relying on domestic efforts, and had commenced small scale production in March of 2023 at a rate of 60 MMcf/d, as reported at the time.
On July 24, the Iraqi government launched a major and long-delayed seawater desalination project meant to solve chronic freshwater shortages in Basra. Work on the project, located near the Faw Grand Port, will take three years, Prime Minister Sudani told reports at the cornerstone laying ceremony. Sudani touted the project, which is designed to supply 1 million cubic meters of drinking water per day, as a long-term solution to Basra’s water crisis amid diminishing water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The ceremony comes just two weeks after Sudani mentioned that his government formed a technical team to support the execution of the project, which Basra’s governor had been authorized to sign with Power China more than a year ago.
On July 24, Iraq inaugurated a central processing facility for natural gas at the Fayha oil field in Basra, a government statement said. The new facility has a capacity to handle 130 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. Iraq had awarded the contract to develop the field to Kuwait Energy back in 2014. The company was later joined by UEG of China. In 2022, the companies began working on a 100,000 bpd crude processing facility.
Sources cited in this section include: Rudaw, ISHM archive, INA, Hurriyet Daily News, Reuters, Kurdistan24, al-Sumaria, APIKUR.
Derived from firsthand accounts and Iraq-based Arabic and Kurdish news sources, the Iraq Security and Humanitarian Monitor is a free publication of the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center.