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The Iraqi political scene has been ablaze for the past 72 hours due to the emergence of recordings attributed to Nuri al-Maliki, the ex-Iraqi PM, in which he appears to be criticising and insulting Moqtada al-Sadr, one of Iraq's strongest Shiite political figures whose faction won big in the 2021 general parliamentary election. “The issue is that there is a British project aiming to put Moqtada in control of the Shia and Iraq, then they would kill him and give Iraq to the Sunnis. The issue is not al-Maliki [myself], I can just leave and take refuge in the house...

Tension between Baghdad and Kurdistan region has reached its peak since the Iraqi PM, Nuri AL-Maliki ordered the removal of Kurdish flags from government buildings in Khanaqin in Diyala province, which is in the disputed territories defined under Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution. Since the directive was issues by the Iraqi PM, many protests in Diyala province and elsewhere in Kurdistan region have taken place... The head of Diyala province also refused to comply with the order from the PM to remove the Kurdish flag from government buildings. The focal point of the incident was in Khanaqin, in an...

The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region. Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has. With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the “special relationship” between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by...

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday urged Iran to help rebuild his war-torn country during a visit to Tehran that came as his rival accused the Islamic republic of meddling in Iraqi affairs. Maliki's one-day stopover in Iran is part of a regional tour aimed at drumming up support for his bid to stay in power after an inconclusive March 7 general election. He held a series of meetings in Tehran, including with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, before holding talks with Iraq's radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Qom, reports...

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi are set to win the same number of seats in Iraq's parliament, according to an AFP projection based on 80 percent of votes cast. Maliki's State of Law Alliance and Allawi's Iraqiya bloc are on pace to garner 87 seats each in Iraq's 325-member Council of Representatives, with less than 9,000 votes separating the two nationwide

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on all Iraqis on Saturday to unite aboard what he called a "love boat" in a stirring appeal for reconciliation in the war-torn nation. "The security in Iraq has settled down at a level that allowed the leaders of the tribes to come from everywhere," Maliki told a conference of Sunni and Shiite tribal figures in the capital. "National reconciliation has become a principle that we depend on ... I invite everyone to stay in the boat of national reconciliation, the boat of fraternity, love, justice and equality that will lead us...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government's spokesman said on Sunday. Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that Maliki's remarks to Der Spiegel were translated incorrectly. The German magazine said on Saturday that Maliki supported Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months. The interview was released on Saturday. "U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told U.S. senators... "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin," al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad. "This is severe interference in our domestic affairs."

Iraq parties agree on talks agenda Al-Maliki, right, was in Tikrit on Friday canvassing the support of Sunni leaders [AFP] Iraqi leaders have agreed on the agenda for a summit called by Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, in an effort to save his unity government, according to one of the state's vice-presidents. "The breakthrough came on the second day of preparatory talks involving the country's most senior political leaders," Tareq al-Hashemi said on Sunday. "We reached agreement on a number of issues. The most important is the agenda for the summit and who will attend the meeting," a statement said. On...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Angry fellow Shi'ites stoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's motorcade in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad on Sunday in a display of fury over a devastating car bomb that tore through their area. Maliki was visiting the Sadr City slum to pay respects to some of the 202 victims of last week's devastating bombing. "It's all your fault!" one man shouted as, in unprecedented scenes, a hostile crowd began to surge around the premier and then jeered as his armored convoy edged through the throng away from a mourning ceremony. The area is a base for the...

BAGHDAD, July 17 (Reuters) - Iraq's government criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday for making fun of its U.S.-sponsored democracy at the G8 summit. At a news conference on Saturday in St. Petersburg with U.S. President George W. Bush, Putin responded to comments by Bush on Russia's own brand of democracy by saying in a barbed aside: "We of course don't want to have a democracy like the one in Iraq." "Mr. Vladimir Putin ... has diminished the importance of the democratic experience in Iraq with a sarcastic remark," read a statement from the office of Prime Minister Nuri...