The Daily Digest
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s security adviser Qasim al-Araji said the committee bringing weapons under state control has no fixed completion deadline and called reports of one incorrect. He said the Coordination Framework formed the committee and that al-Zaidi directly supervises it. Al-Araji retained a firm endpoint, saying illegal arms holders would be treated under law as terrorists once the process was complete. Separately, the Shuwailat tribe presented more than 2,500 weapons to security authorities for registration. Shafaq News cited a government source saying al-Zaidi would ask President Donald Trump to postpone possible financial or economic measures if factional weapons remained unresolved after 30 September. In Baghdad, $100 sold for IQD 160,250. Eco Iraq listed concern over possible U.S. sanctions and post-30 September weapons developments among several factors behind the dollar’s rise. The government has therefore separated the open-ended weapons process from the fixed coalition date, while the amended PMF law remains at Friday’s unresolved procedural stage.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that France is working on an oil pipeline project from Iraq through Jordan toward European markets. He presented the project as part of efforts to find energy routes outside the Strait of Hormuz. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had already discussed selling Iraqi oil to Europe and expanding Mediterranean export routes during his visit to Berlin. Iraq is also trucking southern crude north in an effort to raise exports through Turkey. Macron’s statement gives a proposed physical route to the European push, but he did not announce an approval, financing package or construction schedule.
The Council of Ministers approved a dedicated fund to compensate victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and other international crimes. The decision was announced Friday by Khalaf Sinjari, the prime minister’s adviser for Yazidi affairs, and forms part of the draft International Crimes Law. The fund will have legal personality and financial and administrative independence at a level below a general directorate. Its financing can come from grants and assistance provided by states and international or regional bodies, as well as money obtained by Iraq through lawsuits and claims related to international crimes. The Council of Ministers will issue later regulations governing the fund’s affiliation, structure, management and spending. The decision establishes the institution, while its operating rules remain pending.
Iraqi naval forces thwarted what a security source described as an attempted pirate attack on the MAYSAL-RAYM oil tanker near the Basra Oil Terminal on Saturday. The source said armed men approached in two boats while the tanker was operating in a ship-to-ship loading and unloading area. Naval forces were alerted, moved to the area and brought the situation under control. They arrested 11 suspects aboard the two boats. The intervention stopped the incident in Iraqi territorial waters used for maritime oil operations near a major export facility.
An electricity transmission tower on the Haditha-Baiji power line was reportedly blown up on Friday, cutting the line. Saad Ghazi al-Mohammadi, head of the Anbar Provincial Council’s security committee, told Shafaq News the link had been severed. Hours earlier, security forces foiled what a source described as an ISIS attempt to attack another power tower in the same area. The forces intervened before the militants reached the second tower and prevented damage there. No casualties were reported in either incident, but the line was cut despite the earlier intervention elsewhere along the corridor.