WIRE
KURDISTAN24Iraq PM Says Coalition Forces to Withdraw From Iraq on Sept. 303HKURDISTAN24Safeen Dizayee: Iraq Must Punish Groups Attacking Kurdistan Region4HKURDISTAN24Senior PMF Official, Three Members Arrested in Baghdad4HKURDISTAN24Al-Araji: Decision for War and Peace Belongs Solely to Iraqi State4HKURDISTAN24Iran Presses Iraq Against Disarming Armed Groups, Sources Say4H964 MEDIAGraham Arnold signs short term Iraq extension, turning down four-year deal5HIRAQI NEWSIraq, Qatar provide oil for loading inside Hormuz via bids5HRUDAWIraq coordinates with Germany, Russia ahead of US coalition withdrawal5HREUTERSIraq's Australian coach Arnold renews contract for six months5HIRAQI NEWSIraq to introduce new banknotes with three zeros removed6HRUDAWBaghdad ready to handle national security after US departure: Spox7HIRAQI NEWSIraq to raise oil exports via Turkey’s Ceyhan to 750,000 bpd8HIRAQI NEWSIraq suggests a security council involving Iran, Saudi Arabia10HTHE NEW REGIONIraq to slash three zeros from currency, introduce new notes10HIRAQI NEWSIraq foreign reserves decline 11.6% to $86.17B in June 202611HIRAQI NEWSSamarra Drug Company starts first domestic Moxifloxacin Antibiotic output11H
Iraq Monitorعين على العراقPrimary-source intelligence
THE BRIEFING · AN INDEPENDENT DIGEST

The Daily Digest

TUESDAY, 4 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Iraq's oil ministry said 30 million barrels of Iraqi crude crossed the Strait of Hormuz over the past month, with tankers again passing and sales only partially recovered, and clarified that buyers rather than Baghdad bear responsibility for cargoes once they leave Basrah. State marketer SOMO is offering deep discounts on Basrah crude to persuade buyers to load inside the strait, while telling Rudaw it exported 42.5 million barrels in July and rejecting the discount claims. SOMO also put Kurdistan Region exports below 10 percent of pre-war levels, the oil minister said Iraq is eyeing higher flows via Turkey as Hormuz transit talks with Iran progress, and Damascus said it will restore the Iraq–Syria pipeline link within three years.

A government financial adviser said Iraq's liquidity crisis does not mean bankruptcy, the first official answer to the picture the finance minister put to parliament, and the finance ministry moved on the spending side with pre-signing audits of state contracts against corruption. Iraqi News reports July exports surpassed 1.25 million barrels per day, and Shafaq News says Iraq topped Arab states in oil and gas agreements signed in July.

On the security file, Iraq's Supreme Anti-Terrorism and Security Council was set to review the factions' response to the air raids Washington and Riyadh carried out, after an Iraqi faction leader rejected disarmament and threatened a response to those raids. Middle East Eye reports the strikes testing Baghdad's balancing act between Riyadh and Tehran as the prime minister prepares his Riyadh trip next week.

Still on the security file, Iraq tightened controls on its borders to prevent cross-border attacks amid regional tensions, while an Iraqi official warned of gaps in the country's air defences and an IRGC commander said his forces stand ready in northwest Iran. Separately, Iraqi News reports high temperatures caused an ammunition depot to explode, with no attack alleged.

In the militia space, iNEWS (Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada — affiliated) and Al-Nujaba TV (Harakat al-Nujaba — official) carried urgent-tagged graphics this morning quoting Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's secretary-general calling to prepare for a major battle; by evening the network had added no Iraqi target, no timetable and no faction position of its own, and no militia claim of responsibility for any act of violence appears in today's material. The channel-by-channel account is in the Militia Digest published beside this briefing.

On the economy, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum began supplying Kurdistan Region gas from Khor Mor to Kirkuk and federal Iraq, the first such flow to the federal grid. On the same day the electricity ministry said Iraq is importing 900 MW from Turkey and Jordan, and a 3,000-cubic-metre gas storage facility opened in Najaf.

On the pilgrimage, Kurdistan24 reports nearly five million foreign pilgrims had arrived for Arbaeen with millions in Karbala, a gathering AP describes as unfolding amid regional tensions and fears of US-Iran escalation. Four pilgrims died when a vehicle overturned in Dhi Qar, and Baghdad ordered a probe after a border officer let an Iranian tourist stamp her own passport.

In the north, the Kurdistan Region Presidency said Nechirvan Barzani's Damascus meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stressed protecting the rights of all of Syria's components and thanked the Kurdistan Region for sheltering Syrians through the past fifteen years of war, and Rudaw carried al-Sharaa's message in Kurdish. Baghdad meanwhile advanced a bill on ISIS genocide crimes amid calls to secure Sinjar, while Christian claimants in Duhok protested over unresolved land disputes and the head of Nineveh's Women's Affairs Department said war widows forced to become breadwinners still have no government support.

THINGS TO WATCH
The Supreme Anti-Terrorism and Security Council issues an outcome on the factions' response to the US-Saudi strikesmedium likelihoodhigh impactShafaq News reported the council was set to review the Iraqi factions' response to the raids, so a decision or communique should surface from that session.
The prime minister's Riyadh visit is held and produces a stated security understandinghigh likelihoodhigh impactIraqi News reported the trip for next week, and it lands while Baghdad is publicly flagging border and air-defence gaps after the US-Saudi raids.
SOMO publishes loading or export figures showing whether the Basrah discounts drew buyers inside Hormuzmedium likelihoodmedium impactThe marketer is offering deep discounts to encourage loading inside the strait while rejecting the discount claims, so the next export tally is the test of both.
A first Khor Mor volume figure to the federal grid is stated by Dana Gas, Crescent or the electricity ministrymedium likelihoodmedium impactSupplies to Kirkuk and federal Iraq began on 4 August, and the ministry is simultaneously importing 900 MW from Turkey and Jordan, so the offsetting quantity is the open number.
Syria and Iraq sign or announce terms for the pipeline link Damascus says it will restorelow likelihoodmedium impactDamascus put a three-year horizon on restoring the Iraq–Syria oil pipeline, and Shafaq reports energy cooperation talks already running between the two governments.
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