Saturday, 26 September 2026

Iraq and Kuwait agreed to form a joint working group that will submit a roadmap on outstanding issues to their leaders within 30 days, the Iraqi prime minister’s office said in announcing the agreement. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah reached the agreement at the UN General Assembly in New York. The group will alternate meetings between Baghdad and Kuwait until it finishes its work. Outstanding issues include navigation in Khor Abdullah and the maritime boundary beyond marker 162. A 2012 navigation agreement remains disputed after Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the law ratifying it was unconstitutional. The two governments have agreed on a process for making recommendations, not a settlement of those questions.

Baghdad is seeking U.S. exemptions to resume flights with Iran after three Iraqi airports suspended Iranian services on Friday, Reuters reported, citing sources and state media. The prime minister’s office said Iraq was in direct talks with Washington over exemptions for some airports to restore travel for medical treatment, education and pilgrimages among other civilian needs. Najaf airport suspended flights to and from Iran on Friday under a directive an airport source attributed to the prime minister’s office. Nujaba secretary-general Akram al-Kaabi called for preparations for sit-ins at Iraqi airports if flights were not restored and what he called U.S. dominance did not end. Al-Kornet al-Kata'ibi (KSS — affiliated) announced a Basra Corniche protest later today over government measures affecting Iranians; Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official) announced a separate Baghdad gathering later today without citing the flight restrictions. KSS secretary-general Abu Alaa al-Walai pressed MPs for a resolution against yielding to U.S. pressure, while First Deputy Speaker Adnan Fayhan offered an extraordinary session if the flight decision was not reversed; parliament has announced neither. Separately, Prime Minister al-Zaidi told the UN on Friday that the state must control weapons and decisions on war and peace; Hoquq MP Mohammed Jabar al-Hasnawi replied that decisions, not weapons, should be confined to the state. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said weapons-handover talks were continuing, while Al-Arabiya reported they could last months; 30 September is the coalition mission’s scheduled end, not a weapons-handover deadline.

Iraq’s oil production rose to nearly 3.5 million barrels per day in August, almost 700,000 bpd above July, as southern exports partly recovered, according to Iraq Oil Report’s field-level figures. Output from federally managed fields averaged 3.27 million bpd, up from 2.64 million, with Basra fields accounting for 2.13 million, up from 1.62 million. Yet state marketer SOMO offered additional late-September cargoes after high freight costs complicated purchases, Bloomberg reported. SOMO also tendered two million barrels of Basrah Heavy for loading from 1 to 7 October, with bids due on 28 September. Another two million barrels were set for loading from 27 to 30 September off Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz. Prime Minister al-Zaidi said earlier this week that the war with Iran had cost Iraq about $60bn in oil revenues. Production has recovered from July, while the late-September offers show that selling and moving crude remains difficult.

Turkey’s Hürriyet newspaper reported a plan under which 2,200 Sinjar Resistance Units fighters would lay down their weapons and enter Iraqi security structures as part of what the newspaper described as a broader Baghdad–Ankara understanding. The newspaper linked the proposal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with Prime Minister al-Zaidi in New York on Wednesday. At that meeting, Iraq and Turkey agreed to restore Iraqi state authority in Sinjar and gradually transfer Turkey’s Bashiqa-Zilkan base to Iraq. The Turkish presidency said the transfer would proceed as Baghdad advanced the Sinjar security measures, under an agreed mechanism and timetable. Its statement gave neither a fighter count nor an integration arrangement. Hürriyet’s account adds a reported plan for the fighters; the governments’ agreement has not yet produced a completed base transfer.

Akram al-Kaabi (Nujaba — secretary-general) called on Iraqis and religious-service groups to prepare for sit-ins at Iraqi airports if flights with Iran did not resume and what he called U.S. dominance did not end. Al-Ghadeer TV (Badr Organization — official) and iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) carried his call under his name. A Tourism Daily News headline extended it to airports across the region, although Kaabi named Iraqi airports and the article described sit-ins inside Iraq. Separately, Al-Ghadeer TV announced a gathering at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square later today, from 3 to 6 p.m. under a pledge to martyrs; its notice did not name the flight restrictions. Al-Kornet al-Kata'ibi (KSS — affiliated) announced a Basra Corniche gathering later today at 4 p.m. against government measures affecting Iranians, starting opposite the Teaching Hospital emergency department. It also posted a protest notice for Najaf’s 20th Revolution overpasses on 28 September at 5 p.m., which Unit 10,000 (KH — affiliated) reproduced. Najaf airport suspended flights to and from Iran on Friday, on a directive an airport source said came from the prime minister’s office. The dated street gatherings are distinct from Kaabi’s conditional airport sit-in call.

The prime minister’s office said Iraq was in direct talks with the United States over exemptions for some Iraqi airports, seeking to restore flights for medical treatment, education, pilgrimages and other civilian needs. KSS secretary-general Abu Alaa al-Walai urged MPs to pass a resolution requiring the government not to yield to U.S. pressure over measures affecting Iran. First Deputy Speaker Adnan Fayhan said parliament was ready for an extraordinary session if the flight decision was not reversed, and proposed oversight steps. MP Ahmad al-Mubarraq proposed collecting signatures for a parliamentary order to reverse the decision, while Al-Asas bloc head MP Alaa al-Haidari said an urgent parliamentary effort had formed. Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official) carried four Sadiqoun MPs seeking the restrictions’ reasons, legal basis, issuer and consequences for travellers. Qais al-Khazali (AAH — secretary-general) called for a unified public, parliamentary and government position to lift the restrictions; his description of Iraq as participating in a wider siege was his own. Badr officials demanded immediate reversal, while Badr bloc spokesman MP Hamed Abbas said efforts were moving toward a resolution. Parliament has announced neither a resolution nor an extraordinary session.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi told the UN that the state must decide matters of peace and war and bring weapons under state authority. Al-Ittijah TV (KH — official) then carried Hoquq MP Mohammed Jabar al-Hasnawi’s reply: confine decisions to the state, not weapons. Kurdistan24 reported a phased plan with a 30 June 2027 deadline; that date was not in al-Zaidi’s quoted UN remarks. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said talks with armed factions about weapons handover were ongoing, while Al-Arabiya reported that negotiations could last months to avoid confrontation. Mukhtar al-Mousawi, a parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee member speaking on Al-Ahad TV, said Washington understood that organizing weapons would take time; that was his account of Washington’s position. Al-Ahad TV captioned 30 September as the end of the military presence, while former MP Raed al-Maliki said Iraq should not celebrate it as “Sovereignty Day” if the government enforced the aviation restrictions. The coalition mission’s scheduled end on 30 September is not a weapons-handover deadline.