The Daily Digest
Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zidan on Monday backed government efforts to bring weapons under state control under a Coordination Framework plan. The council said a Framework committee would prepare the “well-studied plan” and announce it once complete. Rudaw also reported a ruling-alliance support committee, but named no members, mandate or timetable. Alsumaria, without direct quotes, reported that Kataib Hezbollah and Nujaba rejected the government weapons committee's deadline. A separate report said unidentified factions proposed freezing weapons instead, while Shafaq News said a four-way meeting was postponed until after September 30. Those faction positions and the postponement remain reported rather than formally announced. Kurdistan24 reported that the Framework was pressing to finalize the PMF law, while Shafaqna Iraq reported an unconfirmed government agreement to amend the PMF law. Judicial support is public, but the plan and committee membership remain unpublished and no faction agreement is confirmed.
Separately, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Monday ordered the Finance Ministry to allocate permanent or contract positions for long-waiting graduates through the federal budget bill. Graduates from several provinces demonstrated outside the ministry for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, seeking appointments through the 2027 budget. One protester estimated the group of long-graduated Iraqis at more than 100,000. He said security forces used force and batons. A security source said tear gas and rubber bullets were used, but not live ammunition. The directive puts the demand into the budget process but ties hiring to ministries’ actual staffing needs.
On oil, three industry sources said northern crude exports held at about 220,000 barrels per day on Monday. Kirkuk supplied about 150,000 barrels and the Kurdistan Regional Government 70,000. The crude moved from Saralu through the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline to Ceyhan. Current flows remain far below the one-year agreement signed August 1 providing for at least 750,000 barrels per day through the northern route. Bloomberg separately reported that Iraq was struggling to sell Basra oil after raising its prices. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein meanwhile discussed potential Strait of Hormuz disruptions and their effect on Iraq with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy in Cairo.
On corruption, government spokesman Haidar al-Aboudi said Iraqis had filed more than 26,000 corruption reports with the Integrity Commission. He linked the increase to the Dawn Crackdown campaign launched on June 28. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had ordered the activation of a long-dormant whistleblower reward law on August 29. Al-Aboudi put recovered funds, assets and property at more than 1.359 trillion dinars. Legal researcher Ali al-Tamimi said the law provides 5 percent of recovered money up to 100 million dinars and 3 percent of any amount above that. Al-Aboudi also said the government was expanding automation, auditing state contracts and monitoring projects and border crossings.
In Iran, protesters attacked Iraqi students at their residence in Semnan on Monday evening, the second incident in 24 hours. Earlier that day, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein instructed the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran to investigate and seek legal action. The embassy sent a delegation to check on the students and contacted Iranian authorities. Semnan province’s chief justice Mohammad Sadegh Akbari said two people had been identified and summoned for questioning. Semnan University moved Iraqi students’ exams online and told those holding passports that they could leave from Tuesday morning. Students still awaiting passports were told they could collect them before leaving.
Iraq’s Green Vision said Tuesday that four state institutions were taking part in joint efforts against desertification. The report put national green cover at 17 percent, down from 50 percent, and Baghdad’s rate at 4.5 percent. It put green cover in the Kurdistan Region at 20 percent, up from 15 percent in 2018. The Agriculture Ministry estimated that Iraq needs to plant 15 billion trees to combat desertification, establish forests and reduce greenhouse gases. Aynda separately identified 138 unregulated refineries, more than 2.4 million vehicles in the Kurdistan Region, around 7,000 private generators and about 7,000 tons of waste produced daily. It called for stronger environmental oversight, cleaner energy and better air-quality monitoring.