The Daily Digest

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will submit the Popular Mobilization law to parliament after a months-long standoff, Rudaw reported on 21 August, a government spokesman saying passage will come "in the coming days". The bill arrives with the factions split over the commission it would formalise: Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) carried both the law's approach and calls to condemn or dismiss PMF Commission chairman Faleh al-Fayyad over his failure to appear before parliament, as today's militia digest sets out, and a Sadiqoun deputy said Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali had intervened over the arrest of a PMF officer, 964 Media reported. Baghdad meanwhile arrested two arms dealers as part of its push to bring weapons under state control, and reaffirmed to visiting Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf its ban on armed groups threatening other countries — six weeks before the 30 September handover deadline.

Ghalibaf's Baghdad trip fell short of all its objectives, sources told Asharq al-Awsat on 20 August, the same paper having reported that he brought to Baghdad an Iranian plan to conceal rather than surrender the factions' weapons. Tehran announced during the visit that banking barriers with Iraq had been removed, Iraq asked Iran for special treatment for its oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, and the trip closed in Karbala, where the speaker hailed the shared history of the two countries. No public outcome on the weapons file emerged from the visit.

In the north, the tripartite deal governing exports from the Kurdistan Region has been renewed and is spurring field restarts, Iraq Oil Report said on 20 August. The investigation into the drone attack on the office of KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani is running under the direct supervision of the Iraqi prime minister, a spokesperson told The New Region, and the Iraqi parliament speaker condemned the attack — no party has claimed it and neither Baghdad nor Erbil has named one in these accounts.

The central bank's official foreign reserves stand at $86.17 billion, down 8 percent on the previous reading, on the bank's own series, a fall recorded as Brent settled at $95.29 a barrel, 3.1 percent higher and Chinese refiners bought up Iraqi barrels as more supply left Hormuz, Bloomberg reported. The communications regulator shut Korek Telecom's Baghdad offices, and the company's chief executive called the decision "illegal" and personal, Rudaw reported.

THINGS TO WATCH

Iraqi investigation names a party behind the drone attack on Masrour Barzani's officelow likelihoodhigh impactThe spokesperson placed the probe under the Iraqi prime minister's direct supervision, so any finding or arrest would surface from Baghdad rather than Erbil.

Kurdistan export throughput figures published under the renewed tripartite dealmedium likelihoodmedium impactIraq Oil Report describes field restarts already under way on the back of the renewal, which should show as reported volumes within weeks.

A first Iraq–Iran bank transaction announced under the barriers Tehran says are removedlow likelihoodmedium impactTehran's claim during Ghalibaf's visit is testable only when a named channel or transfer actually opens.

Korek Telecom files suit against the regulator or reopens its Baghdad officesmedium likelihoodlow impactThe chief executive called the closure illegal and personal, pointing to litigation or reversal rather than quiet compliance.

Further arms-dealer arrests announced by Baghdad before the 30 September deadlinehigh likelihoodmedium impactRudaw framed the two arrests as part of a push to bring weapons under state control, a campaign that would show in repeat cases.