WIRE
RUDAWIraqi PM defends dinar devaluation amid public anger5HTHE NEW REGIONCoordination Framework slams dinar devaluation, proposes relief measures5HTHE NEW REGIONDrones target Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Erbil province5HSHAFAQTwo-drone attack targets refugee camp in Erbil5HSHAFAQPM Al-Zaidi explains 1,500-dinar dollar rate to parliament7HKURDISTAN24Iraqi PM: Speculators Benefited from Previous Dollar Rate Differential7HSHAFAQSource: Iraqi leaders backed dollar hike before announcement8HIRAQI NEWSSyria to provide alternative route for Iraq’s oil exports8HTHE NEW REGIONIraqi PM Zaidi to appear in parliament over dinar devaluation: MP9HIRAQI NEWSIraq offers $2.80 per barrel discount for November oil sales10HSHAFAQIraq targets zero North Oil flaring by 202710HSHAFAQPKK: All fighters withdrawn from Turkiye11HAPIraq rejects Syrian request to repatriate 4,000 suspected IS detainees, official says11HINAIraq and Kuwait Discuss Developing Security Cooperation and Enhancing the Security of Their Shared Border11H964 MEDIAFederal agency arrests terrorism suspect in Erbil in joint operation with Kurdish forces12H964 MEDIAIraq expands spending as Gulf states cut back, economist says12H
Iraq Monitorعين على العراقAbout
IRAQ MONITOR · THE BRIEFING

The Daily Digest

SATURDAY, 22 AUGUST 2026 · EVENING EDITION

The Daily Digest

Asaib Ahl al-Haq's own television channel spent Saturday afternoon building a case for removing the man who runs the Popular Mobilization Forces. Between 13:47 and 14:13, Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) ran four segments in under half an hour on PMF chairman Falih al-Fayadh's failure to appear at a parliamentary questioning session, with political science professor Ammar al-Bahadli telling the channel Fayadh can be removed under legal and constitutional procedures and legal expert Sa'd al-Bakhati saying the rules bind anyone regardless of office. A second run of four segments carried on-screen text saying Fayadh refused to form a fact-finding committee and that warning of the Saudi-American strikes on PMF sites reached him three hours in advance without units being told to evacuate.

Sadiqoun MP Rajaa al-Harbi said on the same channel that Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had told MPs the attack was reported before it happened and that her bloc is moving to vote the PMF Authority law as fast as possible — a law press reports the same day said remains stalled over a dispute about the chairman's tenure, and the removal argument came from the channel's outside guests, not from any named AAH office-holder.

Military intelligence seized drones and weapons in Maysan on 22 August, the day after the government spokesperson ruled out any foreign mediation on the weapons talks and the speaker fixed his end-September timeline for state arms collection. The president has since put a boundary on that exercise, saying the Peshmerga are not part of the weapons process, which carves Erbil's forces out of a drive running to the same date as the coalition withdrawal — a date that falls with Iraq's air defence procurement still in disarray over a stalled South Korean deal, Amwaj reported. Parliament will separately review the Iraq-France strategic pact, Kurdistan24 reported.

On the economy, Iranian state media said Tehran has let some Iraqi tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the concession Baghdad asked for during the Iranian speaker's visit, and Reuters put the grant at a number of Iraqi oil tankers — a batch, not a standing right. Al-Zaidi is seeking alternative oil export routes while guaranteeing salaries, Iraqi and Saudi officials have discussed energy security and oil market stability, and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf urged Baghdad to break its economic dependence on Washington. The route Baghdad has is the one Tehran controls.

In the north, the Kirkuk governor disclosed new energy talks with Turkey while pledging a smooth transfer of power in the province, and a British energy major aims to raise Kirkuk's oil and gas output; the KRG has filed a 2027 budget proposal prioritising salaries and entitlements. An education official says nearly 20,000 electricity ministry employees are illiterate, Rudaw reported on 22 August — a measure of the workforce the ministry running the country's power supply employs.

THINGS TO WATCH
Baghdad names a specific alternative oil export routemedium likelihoodhigh impactAl-Zaidi said he is seeking corridors beyond Hormuz while guaranteeing salaries, so naming a pipeline or terminal would show whether the search has a candidate.
A second batch of Iraqi tankers cleared, or turned back, at Hormuzmedium likelihoodmedium impactIranian state media described the passage as permission for some tankers, leaving the next convoy as the test of whether this is standing policy or a single gesture.
The KRG or Peshmerga ministry states a position on the arms-process carve-outmedium likelihoodhigh impactThe Iraqi president said the Peshmerga are not part of the weapons process, and Erbil has not said in this material whether it accepts that framing before end-September.
Another announced weapons seizure by Iraqi intelligence before end-Septemberhigh likelihoodmedium impactThe Maysan drone and weapons seizure is the enforcement action on record under the speaker's collection timeline, and whether more follow shows if the deadline is being worked.
Parliament holds a session on the Iraq-France strategic pactmedium likelihoodmedium impactKurdistan24 reported parliament will review the pact, which would put a Western security relationship on the floor as the coalition withdrawal date approaches.
VIEW THE COMPLETE BRIEFING →ALL EDITIONS →