The Daily Digest

Iraqi officials set September 30 as the completion date for the US-led coalition's withdrawal, and Prime Minister al-Zaidi told Washington that Iraq will be free of foreign forces from October 1, a date Baghdad calls final and irreversible. With the date fixed he has turned to the weapons file, aiming for legislation confining possession of arms to the state and directing an air-defence build-up to cover the gap the departing coalition leaves. Harakat al-Nujaba says it will not hand over its weapons, and Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said Iran has offered to help bring the armed groups under state control.

Still on the security file, a senior Iraqi security delegation flew to Riyadh after the recent attacks, the two governments then underscoring continued security coordination, with the Saudi defence minister saying his country "will always stand with Iraq". Shafaq counts nearly four weeks of drone attacks on the Kurdistan Region, which no party has claimed and for which authorities have named no attacker, and today a drone found near a PMF base in Diyala was destroyed.

On the economy, Iraq said Abu Dhabi's Adnoc is among the buyers of its crude and that the Emirati firm is helping keep Iraqi oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, the same firm Bloomberg reported has proposed handling Iraq's exports. Traders say TotalEnergies' Totsa is offering Iraqi crude outside the Strait of Hormuz, with the northern route out of use since Turkey let the Kirkuk-Ceyhan deal expire.

Still on the economy, Finance Minister said the state must prioritize basic obligations while Diyala workers demanded eight months of salary arrears and Asharq al-Awsat reported water and electricity shortages looming into a crisis in the south. The wounded PMF sit-in outside the National Retirement Authority in Baghdad, in its fifth day over pension treatment, drew Abu Alaa al-Walai to the protesters and calls from him to the prime minister and the parliament speaker, while the PMF Commission said entitlements within its powers had been met "almost in full" and the pension demand lies outside its competence; the militia digest beside this one carries the channel-level detail.

In the north, an advisor to Prime Minister al-Zaidi told Rudaw that Baghdad-Erbil ties are at their "highest levels", and a minister said the two sides have reached a final agreement on customs, with a KRG minister responding to Baghdad's fuel-supply offer as the Region says it is ready to negotiate. Separately, the head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council visited Damascus as Syria seeks deeper judicial ties with Iraq.

THINGS TO WATCH

A weapons-monopoly bill text reaches parliamentmedium likelihoodhigh impactAl-Zaidi is aiming for legislation limiting possession of weapons to the state; a draft arriving in the chamber would test whether the September 30 deadline is forcing the file or only framing it.

A second named faction repeats Nujaba's refusal to disarmmedium likelihoodhigh impactHarakat al-Nujaba said in its own voice it will not hand over its weapons, so another faction saying the same under its own name would show the refusal is not isolated.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia name a coordination body after the Riyadh visitmedium likelihoodmedium impactBoth governments underscored continued security coordination without naming a mechanism; a joint committee, signed memorandum or return visit would show whether the pledge has substance.

Baghdad or Erbil names a party behind the Kurdistan Region drone attackslow likelihoodhigh impactShafaq's count reaches nearly four weeks with no claim of responsibility and no attacker named by authorities.

The Baghdad-Erbil customs agreement is signed or its text publishedmedium likelihoodmedium impactA minister called the agreement final, a characterisation that a signing ceremony or published terms would confirm and continued silence would undercut.