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Iraq Monitorعين على العراقPrimary-source intelligence
THE BRIEFING · AN INDEPENDENT DIGEST

The Daily Digest

WEDNESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Iraq's September 30 weapons deadline is now being bargained over rather than enforced. Shafaq News reported on 19 August that the settlement on the table between Prime Minister al-Zaidi and the factions is managing the weapons rather than removing them; five minutes later Kataib Hezbollah's official Al-Ittijah TV carried the head of its Diwaniyah office saying the future of the resistance's weapons cannot be discussed until "Haj al-Assaf's conditions" are met, conditions the post did not specify. The Services Alliance, a bloc in parliament, rejected Kataib Hezbollah's disarmament demands, Kurdistan24 reported the handover has hit a wall under a civil-war warning, and Shafaq described the deadline as pitting Baghdad against the Iran-aligned factions. Iraq's national security adviser, meanwhile, told The New Region that the weapons restriction programme would bolster the economy.

Sadiqoun's deputy chairman told Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) this evening that his bloc agrees with 90 percent of the factions' conditions for restricting weapons to the state and that al-Zaidi has committed to sending the two Popular Mobilization Forces laws to parliament, as today's militia digest sets out; no other faction has confirmed that count or published the conditions. Al-Ittijah TV framed the Iranian parliament speaker's Baghdad visit the same hour around holding on to the resistance's weapons rather than around any restriction formula.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Baghdad on 19 August, praised the Iraqi "resistance", visited the site where Qassem Soleimani was assassinated and hailed a "new order" in the region, on a trip Al-Monitor places days before the disarmament deadline. With al-Zaidi he turned to money, the two seeking broader economic cooperation after Tehran set out a broadened economic partnership with Iraq.

The finance ministry reported that federal revenues have fallen more than 40 percent on declining oil earnings, against the $16 billion half-year deficit the ministry recorded. The cabinet nonetheless released $267 million in overdue farmer payments, including $45 million for Kurdistan, and Baghdad is pressing for special status for its crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz, while urging diplomacy and safeguards for the route.

In the north, condemnation of the 18 August drone strike on Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani's office in Erbil reached Baghdad itself, with the federal government condemning the attack and warning of security risks and Nouri al-Maliki, the State of Law leader and former prime minister, calling it unacceptable. Basra's governor said Kurdistan's security is part of Iraq's security; no party has claimed the strike, and Amwaj reports the condemnations came in a wave across Iraq and the region.

On the security file, a Baghdad court cleared a Popular Mobilization Forces intelligence official in the 2021 killing of an intelligence officer, acquitting him after a two-day detention, Kurdistan24 reported. Iraq's national security adviser also met the European Union envoy and other diplomats in Baghdad to discuss cooperation and security.

THINGS TO WATCH
Kataib Hezbollah publishes the substance of "Haj al-Assaf's conditions"medium likelihoodhigh impactKH's Diwaniyah office head made those conditions the precondition for any discussion of the weapons file, but the channel did not say what they are.
Al-Zaidi transmits the two PMF laws to parliamentmedium likelihoodhigh impactSadiqoun's deputy chairman said the prime minister committed to sending both laws, a commitment that either puts bills on the parliamentary agenda before 30 September or does not.
A named Iraq–Iran economic instrument comes out of Ghalibaf's visitmedium likelihoodmedium impactThe Iranian speaker and al-Zaidi discussed broader cooperation while Tehran has set out a broadened economic partnership, so any signed agreement would be announced quickly.
A ruling on special status or safeguards for Iraqi crude through Hormuzlow likelihoodmedium impactBaghdad is publicly seeking special status and safeguards for its Hormuz shipments, a request that either draws a stated response or stays unanswered.
An Iraqi investigative finding names who launched the drones at Barzani's officelow likelihoodhigh impactBaghdad condemned the strike and warned of security risks without naming a perpetrator, leaving the attribution to be settled or left open.
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