Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. Located within the Middle East, it is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The country covers an area of 438,317 square kilometres (169,235 sq mi) and has a population of over 46 million, making it the 58th largest country by area and the 31st most populous in the world. Baghdad, home to over 8 million people, is the capital city and the largest in the country.
Starting in the 6th millennium BC, the fertile plains between Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers, referred to as Mesopotamia, fostered the rise of early cities, civilisations, and empires including Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria. Known as the cradle of civilisation, Mesopotamia saw the invention of astrology, mathematics, navigation, timekeeping, writing systems, the wheel, the sailboat, a calendar, and a law code. After the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia in the 7th century, Iraq became the metropole of the Abbasid Caliphate with Baghdad emerging as a global cultural and intellectual hub during the Islamic Golden Age, home to institutions such as the House of Wisdom. Following Baghdad's destruction by the Mongols in 1258, Iraq came under successive empires, and from the 16th until the 20th century, it was governed within the Ottoman system as a defined region known administratively as Ottoman Iraq.
Since independence in 1932 after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Iraq has experienced spells of significant economic and military growth alongside periods of instability and conflict. Iraq emerged as a hashemite monarchy after centuries of Ottoman rule and a period under British administration. In 1958, a military coup led by Abdul Karim Qasim overthrew the monarchy and established a republic. Later, the Ba'ath Party took power in 1968, establishing a one-party state under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and later Saddam Hussein, who presided over war against Iran from 1980 to 1988 and then invaded Kuwait in 1990. In 2003, U.S.-led coalition forces invaded and occupied Iraq, overthrowing the government and triggering an insurgency and sectarian violence during the Iraq War, which ended in 2011. From 2013 to 2017, Iraq faced another major conflict with the rise and defeat of the Islamic State. Today post-war conflict continues at a lower scale, hampering stability alongside the influence of Iran. However, recently Iraq has begun to rein in Iranian influence and advance its own state authority.
A federal parliamentary republic, Iraq is considered an emerging middle power. It is home to a diverse population, geography and wildlife. Most Iraqis are Muslims, while significant religious minorities include Christians, Jews, Mandaeans, Yarsanis, and Yazidis. Iraqis are ethnically diverse; mostly Iraqi Arabs, as well as Kurds, Turkmens, Yazidis, Assyrians, Armenians, Doms, and Shabaks. Arabic and Kurdish are the official languages of Iraq, while Assyrian (Suret), Turkmen and Mandaic are spoken regionally. Iraq, home to one of the largest oil reserves in the world, has a significant oil and gas industry. It is also popular for its agriculture and tourism. At present, Iraq is in the process of reconstruction.
Etymology
There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin. Another possible etymology for the name is from the Middle Persian word erāg, meaning "lowlands". An Arabic folk etymology for the name is "deeply rooted, well-watered; fertile".
The name al-ʿIrāq is attested as a common toponym in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. The sixth-century poet Adi ibn Zayd, from the Lakhmid court at al-Ḥirah, used the name in a demographic context, speaking of the "people of Iraq" (ahl al-ʿIrāq), and in a geographical sense, referring to the "central area of Iraq" (ṣaḥn al-ʿIrāq). His contemporary, Imruʾ al-Qais, used the name in social contexts, mentioning "the abundant food of Iraq" (ṭaʿām al-ʿIrāq al-mustafīḍ) and "the patterned fabric of Iraq" (ḥawkk al-ʿIrāq al-munammaq), and in a political context, stating "his kingdom stretches from Iraq to Oman" (lahu mulk al-ʿIrāq ilā ʿUmān). This usage continued into the early Islamic period. The tenth-century geographer al-Maqdisi, defending his use of "Iraq" instead of the ancient name "Babylonia", noted that it was the only name used in his time. He cited the precedent Abu Bakr, who reportedly said, "For Allah to grant a victory, even a handspan, of the Holy Land by my hand is more beloved to me than a district from the districts of Iraq" (rustāq min rasātīq al-ʿIrāq), and al-Maqdisi specifically pointed out that Abu Bakr did not say "Babylonia".
During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī ("Arabian Iraq") for Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿAjamī ("Persian Iraq"), for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. According to some historians, the term historically included the plain south of the Hamrin Mountains and did not include the northernmost and westernmost parts of the modern territory of Iraq. However, contemporary medieval definitions of Iraq's extent varied. The 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, for example, defined Iraq as stretching "from Mosul to Abadan in length, and from Al-Qadisiyyah to Halwan in width". Prior to the middle of the 19th century, the term Eyraca Arabica was commonly used to describe Iraq. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
As an Arabic word, عراق ʿirāq means "hem", "shore", "bank", or "edge", so that the name by folk etymology came to be interpreted as "the escarpment", such as at the south and east of the Jazira Plateau, which forms the northern and western edge of the "al-Iraq arabi" area. The Arabic pronunciation is [ʕiˈrɑːq]. In English, it is either (the only pronunciation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and the first one in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary) or (listed first by MQD, the American Heritage Dictionary, and the Random House Dictionary.)
When the British established the Hashemite king on 23 August 1921, Faisal I of Iraq, the official English name of the country changed from Mesopotamia to the endonymic Iraq. Since January 1992, the official name of the state is "Republic of Iraq" (Jumhūriyyat al-ʿIrāq), reaffirmed in the 2005 Constitution.
History
Iraq largely coincides with the ancient region of Mesopotamia, often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. The history of Mesopotamia extends back to the Lower Paleolithic period, with significant developments continuing through the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, after which the region became known as Iraq.
Bronze and Iron Age
Within its borders lies the ancient land of Sumer, which emerged between 6000 and 5000 BC during the Neolithic Ubaid period. Sumer is recognised as the world's earliest civilisation, marking the beginning of urban development, written language, and monumental architecture. Sumer also had advanced canal systems. Iraq's territory also includes the heartlands of the Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, and Neo-Babylonian empires, which dominated Mesopotamia and much of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Antiquity
Following the Achaemenid conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, Mesopotamia remained a core region of the Achaemenid Empire, with its existing population and local institutions continuing in use. Maintaining Mesopotamian royal tradition, Cyrus the Great adopted titles such as King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Corners, while continuing the Assyrian-derived imperial title King of Kings, which remained in use into late antiquity. Babylon became an imperial capital of the empire, and Aramaic, long established in Mesopotamia, became the lingua franca of the empire for administration and interregional communication.
After Mesopotamia came under Macedonian control following Alexander the Great's campaign in 331 BCE, Babylon surrendered without resistance. Alexander intended to make Babylon the capital of his empire, but this plan was abandoned after his death in 323 BCE, with Seleucia established as the imperial capital in Mesopotamia. Following the founding of Seleucia, the population of Babylon was resettled to it. Under Seleucid rule, administrative and economic power remained centered in Mesopotamia. Babylonian economic traditions persisted during this period, including the continued use of the silver shekel. Babylonian chronicle fragments record Seleucid rulers engaging with local institutions, while temple authorities, scholarly traditions, and cuneiform writing continued to function during the Seleucid period. Archaeological evidence from Uruk indicates that Babylonian religious institutions and architectural traditions continued to function during this period. In Babylonian contexts, Seleucid rulers were described as kings in Babylonia.
In late antiquity, Mesopotamia formed part of the decentralized Parthian Empire, which contained numerous semi-autonomous kingdoms and maintained Aramaic as a lingua franca alongside Mesopotamian religious traditions. During the Parthian and Sasanian periods, Ctesiphon gradually merged with Seleucia to form a cosmopolitan metropolis that served as the Sasanian capital, later known as al-Madāʾin. Under Sasanian rule this territory was organized as the province of Āsōristān, corresponding to the geography of Babylonia which Arabic-writing geographers referred to as al-ʿIrāq, a regional designation that continued into the Islamic period.
The capitals of Iranic empires shifted toward Mesopotamia, from Susa to Ctesiphon. The Iranic state came to be dependent on the Iraqi Sawad for its state revenues and centralized administration. When the Sasanians lost the Mesopotamian capital at Ctesiphon during the Arab conquests, Sasanian rule came to an end. Following the conquest, Iraq emerged as politically and culturally distinct from Syria, a division noted by Byzantine authors such as Theophanes, who referred to their inhabitants respectively as “Herakites” and “Isamites”.
Middle Ages
In the decades after the conquest, the Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib strengthened Iraq's political importance by transferring the seat of the caliphate from Medina to Kufa. Under Umayyad rule, the governor of Iraq frequently exercised authority over much of the empire's eastern provinces. After the Battle of Karbala in 680, Iraq became the primary locus of Alid political opposition, a legacy that the Abbasid Caliphate later mobilized when establishing their rule from Iraq.
Iraq was the metropole of the Abbasid Caliphate even before Baghdad was founded, and following earlier Mesopotamian precedents, Abbasid rulers spent large sums on restoring and extending canal systems and cultivating land. With the founding of Baghdad in 762, Iraq became the political, economic, and intellectual core during the Islamic Golden Age, housing institutions such as the House of Wisdom. Abbasid Iraq generated the highest state revenues of the caliphate, reaching four times that of Egypt, the second richest province, drawing largely on the agricultural productivity of southern Iraq. During this period, large quantities of opaque glazed pottery were produced in Iraq and exported as mass-produced commercial goods across the Indian Ocean. Abbasid literary culture in Iraq reflected long-term Mesopotamian narrative continuities, appearing across Muslim and Jewish texts despite religious and political change. In his court narratives, al-Masʿūdī presents Iraq as a distinct regional point of comparison, including contrasts between Iraqi and Syrian officials in matters of administration, accounts in which the people of Iraq are cited as rejecting Egyptian claims of environmental advantage, and anecdotes in which legal practice in Mecca is discussed in terms of how it would be ridiculed by the Iraqis.
From the tenth century onward, Iraq entered a period of political fragmentation as effective power shifted from the Abbasid caliphs to regional dynasties. Authority within Iraq was exercised by a succession of local dynasties, including the Hamdanids, Buyids, Uqaylids, and Mazyadids, which competed and negotiated for control of Iraqi cities and territories. During this period, regional rulers exercised authority in Iraq while receiving formal recognition from the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad. This period of decentralized rule in Iraq ended with the rise of the Seljuk Empire, whose capture of Baghdad in 1055 ended Buyid dominance and left the Abbasid caliphs as largely ceremonial figures under Seljuk rule.
The existing pattern of regional rule in Iraq was disrupted by the Mongol conquest in the thirteenth century. In 1258, Mongol forces captured and sacked Baghdad, bringing Abbasid political rule in Iraq to an end and causing widespread destruction. Iraq was subsequently incorporated into the Ilkhanate as a territorial province within the Mongol Empire. Under Ilkhanid rule, elements of agricultural production and urban life in Iraq gradually recovered, and Iraq remained a populated and economically active region into the late medieval period.
After the collapse of Mongol rule in the 14th century, Iraq came under the control of the Jalayirids, a dynasty of Mongol origin that ruled from Baghdad following the breakup of the Ilkhanate.Their authority was eventually replaced by the Qara Qoyunlu, a Turkoman confederation that captured Baghdad in the early 15th century and extended its rule over much of Iraq. In the later 15th century, the Aq Qoyunlu defeated the Qara Qoyunlu and established control over Iraq as part of a wider regional empire. This period of Turkmen rule ended in 1508 when Shah Ismail I conquered Baghdad and incorporated Iraq into the Safavid Empire.
Early Modern Period
Iraq was conquered by Sultan Suleiman I in 1534 and became part of the Ottoman Empire. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Iraq was a major frontier of the Ottoman–Safavid wars, with Baghdad changing hands several times until the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 confirmed Ottoman control. Administratively, Iraq was organised into the provinces of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, and Shahrizor, which the Ottomans collectively referred to as Hıtta-i Irakiyye (“the Iraq region”).
From 1749 to 1831, Iraq was ruled by a Mamluk dynasty of Georgian origin with considerable autonomy while maintaining nominal allegiance to the Ottoman sultan. After the dynasty was overthrown in 1831, the centralisation of Iraq under Baghdad began. Under the two-time Ottoman Viceroy, Namık Pasha, Baghdad's authority was expanded through military and administrative reforms. Midhat Pasha introduced further reforms in taxation, land registration, infrastructure, education, and communications, reforms often seen as laying the groundwork for the modern Iraq.
Iraq remained under Ottoman control until the First World War, when the British launched the Mesopotamian campaign. The campaign led to the occupation of Baghdad in 1917, and in 1920 Ottoman Iraq was formally dissolved with the establishment of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia.
Modern Iraq
Iraq's modern history began in the wake of World War I, as the region emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Arab forces, inspired by the promise of independence, had helped dismantle the Ottoman hold on the Middle East, but the dream of a united, sovereign Arab state was soon dashed. Despite agreements made with Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Makkah, the European powers had different plans for the region. Following the British withdrawal of support for a unified Arab state, Hussein's son, Faisal, briefly declared the Kingdom of Syria in 1920, encompassing parts of what are now Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria. However, the kingdom was short-lived, crushed by local opposition and the military might of France, which had been granted a mandate over Syria.
The British unified three former Ottoman provinces—Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra—into the Mandate of Mesopotamia, which became Iraq. Under the British, tensions were rising as locals increasingly resisted foreign control. An anti-British rebellion erupted across the country, beginning with Baghdad. The British military responded by air bombing across the capital, where thousands of residents were killed. The need of a new strategy became clear. In 1921, the Cairo Conference, led by British officials including Winston Churchill and T.E. Lawrence, decided that Faisal, now exiled in London, would become the king of Iraq. The decision was seen as a way to maintain British influence in the region while placating local demands for leadership. Upon his coronation as king, Faisal focused on laying foundation of Iraq. He worked hard to gain support of Iraq's diverse population and paid special attention to the Shi'a community, symbolically choosing the date of his coronation to coincide with Eid al-Ghadeer, a key day for Shiite Muslims.
His reign laid the foundations of modern Iraq. Faisal worked to establish key state institutions and fostered a sense of national identity. His education reforms included the founding of Ahl al-Bayt University in Baghdad, and he encouraged the migration of Syrian exiles to Iraq to serve as doctors and educators. Faisal also envisioned infrastructural links between Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, including plans for a railway and an oil pipeline to the Mediterranean. Although Faisal succeeded in securing greater autonomy for Iraq, British influence remained strong, particularly in the country's oil industry. In 1930, Iraq signed a treaty with Britain that gave the country a measure of political independence while maintaining British control over key aspects, including military presence and oil rights. By 1932, Iraq gained formal independence, becoming a member of the League of Nations. Faisal's reign was marked by his efforts to balance the pressures of external influence and internal demands for sovereignty. He was admired for his diplomatic skill and his commitment to steering Iraq towards self-determination. Untimely, he died from a heart attack on 8 September 1933, leaving his son Ghazi to inherit the throne. King Ghazi's reign was brief and turbulent, as Iraq was impacted by numerous coup attempts. He died in a motor vehicle accident in 1939, passing the throne to his young son, Faisal II, who ascended to the throne at just 3 years old. Faisal II's uncle, Crown Prince Abdullah, assumed regency until the young king came of age.
On 1 April 1941, Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and members of the Golden Square staged a coup d'état and installed a pro-German and pro-Italian government. During the subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War, the United Kingdom invaded Iraq for fear that the government might cut oil supplies to Western nations because of its links to the Axis powers. The war started on 2 May, and the British, together with loyal Assyrian Levies, defeated the forces of Al-Gaylani, forcing an armistice on 31 May. Regency of King Faisal II ended on 2 May 1953, his 18th birthday, upon which he gained his majority. The hopes for Iraq's future under Faisal II were high, but the nation remained divided. Iraq's Sunni-dominated monarchy struggled to reconcile the diverse ethnic and religious groups, particularly the Shiite, Assyrian, Jewish and Kurdish populations, who felt marginalised. In 1958, these tensions culminated in a military coup, inspired by the revolutionary wave sweeping across the Arab world, particularly the 1952 Egyptian revolution.
Republic and Ba'athist Iraq
Brigadier General and nationalist Abd al-Karim Qasim led a coup d'état known as the 14 July Revolution in 1958. This revolt was strongly anti-imperial and anti-monarchical in nature and had strong socialist elements. King Faisal II, Prince Abd al-Ilah, and Nuri al-Sa'id, along with the royal family were killed brutally. Qasim controlled Iraq through military rule and in 1958 he began a process of forcibly reducing surplus land owned by a few citizens and having the state redistribute the land. In 1959, Abd al-Wahab al-Shawaf led an uprising in Mosul against Qasim. The uprising was crushed by the government forces. Qasim claimed Kuwait as part of Iraq, when the former was granted independence in 1961. The United Kingdom deployed its army on the Iraq–Kuwait border, which forced Qasim to back down. He was overthrown by the Ba'ath Party in a February 1963 coup. However internal division within Ba'athist factions caused another coup in November, which brought Colonel Abdul Salam Arif to power. The new regime recognised Kuwait's independence. After the latter's death in 1966, he was succeeded by his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif. Under his rule, Iraq participated in the Six-Day War in 1967.
The 17 July Revolution overthrew Arif and brought the Iraqi Ba'ath Party to power in 1968, with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the president of Iraq. However, the government gradually came under the control of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's then vice-president. Saddam sought to achieve stability between Iraq's ethnic and religious groups. The first Iraqi–Kurdish war ended in 1970, after which a peace treaty was signed between Saddam and Barzani, granting autonomy to Kurds. In the 1970s, the leadership offered peace initiatives to Assyrians in Iraq and invited exiled Iraqi Jews back to Iraq. The government introduced free healthcare and education, nationalised oil, promoted women's rights and developed infrastructure.
In 1974, the second Iraqi–Kurdish war began and border clashes with Iran took place on Shatt al-Arab. Iran supported Kurdish militants. The Algiers Agreement signed in 1975 by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Saddam resolved the dispute and Iran withdrew support for the Kurds, resulting in their defeat in the war. In 1973, Iraq participated in the Yom Kippur War against Israel, alongside Syria and Egypt. An attempt to ban an annual pilgrimage to Karbala in 1977 caused an uprising by Shia Muslims across Iraq. Another Shia uprising took place from 1979 to 1980, as a followup to the Islamic Revolution in Iran. On 16 July 1979, Saddam acceded to the presidency and chairmanship of the Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq's then supreme executive body.
Following months of cross-border raids with Iran, Saddam declared war on Iran in September 1980, initiating the Iran–Iraq War. Taking advantage of the post-Iranian Revolution chaos in Iran, Iraq captured some territories in southwest Iran, but Iran recaptured all of the lost territories within two years, and for the next six years Iran was on the offensive.[page needed] Sunni-led Arab countries and the United States supported Iraq throughout the war. In 1981, Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor of Iraq. In midst of the war, between 1983 and 1986, Kurds led rebellion against the regime. In retaliation, the government-coordinated Anfal campaign led to the killing of 50,000–100,000 civilians. During the war, Saddam extensively used chemical weapons against Iranians. The war, which ended in stalemate in 1988, killed between half a million and 1.5 million people.
Kuwait's refusal to waive Iraq's debt and reducing oil prices pushed Saddam to take military action against it. On 2 August 1990, the Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait as its 19th governorate, starting the Gulf War. This led to military intervention by the US-led alliance. The coalition forces proceeded with a bombing campaign targeting military targets and then launched a 100-hour-long ground assault against Iraqi forces in southern Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq also attempted to invade Saudi Arabia and attacked Israel. Iraq's armed forces were devastated during the war. Sanctions were imposed on Iraq, following the invasion of Kuwait, which resulted in economic decline. After the end of the war in 1991, Iraqi Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims in northern and southern Iraq led several uprisings against Saddam's regime, but these were repressed. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people, including many civilians, were killed. During the uprisings, the US, UK, Turkey and France, claiming authority under UNSC Resolution 688, established the Iraqi no-fly zones to protect Kurdish population from attacks and autonomy was given to Kurds. Iraq was also affected by the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War from 1994 to 1997. Around 40,000 fighters and civilians were killed. Between 2001 and 2003, the Kurdistan Regional Government and Ansar al-Islam engaged in conflict, which would merge with the upcoming war.
Post-invasion Iraq
After the 11 September 2001 attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush began planning the overthrow of Saddam in what is now widely regarded as a false pretense. Saddam's Iraq was included in Bush's "axis of evil". The US Congress passed a joint resolution, which authorised the use of armed force against Iraq. In November 2002 the UN Security Council passed resolution 1441. On 20 March 2003, the US-led coalition invaded Iraq, as part of the global war on terror. Within weeks, coalition forces occupied much of Iraq, with the Iraqi Army adopting guerrilla tactics to confront coalition forces. Following the fall of Baghdad in the first week of April, Saddam's regime had completely lost control of Iraq. A statue of Saddam was toppled in Baghdad, symbolising the end of his rule. The US-created Coalition Provisional Authority enforced economic and political policies on Iraq that have created the current state system of the country, which depends on widespread corruption and patronage networks.
Insurgency and Civil war
The Coalition Provisional Authority disbanded the Iraqi military and expelled Ba'athists from the new government. The insurgents fought against the coalition forces and the newly installed government. Saddam was captured and executed. The Shia–Sunni civil war took place from 2006 to 2008. The coalition forces were accused of war crimes such as the Abu Ghraib torture, the Fallujah massacre, the Mahmudiyah rape and killings and the Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre. Following the withdrawal of US troops in 2011, the occupation ceased and war ended. The war in Iraq has resulted in between 151,000 and 1.2 million Iraqis being killed.
The subsequent efforts to rebuild the country amidst sectarian violence was galvanised by continuing discontent over Nouri al-Maliki's government, which led to protests. In 2013, taking advantage of the ensuing chaos and popular discontent against the Iraqi government, Ba'athist and other Sunni militants (Al Qaida and ISIS) launched a number of attacks against the government during what is known as the Anbar campaign. What followed, was a large scale offensive by ISIS in Mosul, which marked the beginning of the rapid territorial expansion of the group, initiating full-scale war in Iraq. Sunni insurgents belonging to the Islamic State group seized control of large swathes of land including several major cities, like Tikrit, Fallujah and Mosul, creating hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons amid reports of atrocities by ISIS fighters. An estimated 500,000 civilians fled from Mosul. Around 5,000 Yazidis were killed in the genocide by ISIS, as a part of the war. In June 2014, Iraq's leading Shii Grand Ayatollah, Ali al-Sistani issued a Fatwa calling on able-bodied men to join the Armed Forces to fight against ISIS. Even though the Fatwa specifically instructed Iraqis to join the official Armed Forces of the country (such as the Army or the Police), it nevertheless resulted in the creation of the Popular Mobilisation Forces. During that time, the government of Iraq, headed by Haider al-Abadi requested the international community to assist Iraq against ISIS, resulting in the creation of the American-led Coalition against ISIS. Meanwhile, in an attempt to counter US influence, Khomeinist anti-US militias prompted Iranian intervention, which resulted in the latter expanding its influence. The Iraqi armed forces, supported by the US-led coalition, as well as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, Peshmerga and other allied anti-ISIS militias then initiated a counter-offensive to retake and liberate ISIS-held territory. In December 2017, when ISIS had lost all its territory in Iraq, the government declared victory.
2019-2021 protests
One of the main causes for popular discontent in Iraq is the lack of reliable electricity infrastructure and clean water. The electrical grid faces systemic pressures due to climate change, fuel shortages, and an increase in demand. Corruption remains endemic throughout Iraqi governance while the United States-endorsed sectarian political system has driven increased levels of violent terrorism and sectarian conflicts. Climate change is driving wide-scale droughts while water reserves are rapidly depleting. Nationwide protests erupted in Iraq in October 2019, demanding systemic reform, and the end of the party-based quota system as well as the disarmament of non-state militias and end to foreign interference. Despite heavy repression, hundreds of deaths, and widespread injuries, the movement remained united around calls for institutional reform and increased accountability. In 2020, the sitting prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi resigned in the face of popular demand. He was succeeded by prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, whose tenure coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The subsequent macroeconomic shock caused a severe decline in oil prices, critically impacting Iraq's oil-dependent economy. The country has been in a prolonged drought since 2020 and experienced its second-driest season in the past four decades in 2021. Water flows in the Tigris and Euphrates were down 30-40% in 2023. Half the country's farmland is at risk of desertification. Nearly 40% of Iraq "has been overtaken by blowing desert sands that claim tens of thousands of acres of arable land every year".
Period of stability (2022–present)
In October 2022, the Council of Representatives elected Abdul Latif Rashid as president, and Mohammed Shia al-Sudani became Prime Minister. Since assuming office in October 2022, Prime Minister al-Sudani has overseen a period of relative political, security, and economic stabilisation. Government officials have cited increased regional diplomacy, improved international relations, and economic diversification initiatives such as the Iraq–Europe Development Road project as key indicators of recovery. In August 2023, al-Sudani established the Iraq Development Fund whose purpose is to strengthen the private sector and finance projects of crucial social and environmental value. In 2024, Iraq experienced unprecedented rainfall that —according to the Ministry of Water Resources— boosted Iraq's strategic water reserves by 10%, significantly easing the drought crisis. In February 2025, the Iraq Development Fund had gained $7bn in foreign direct investments, and signed Memoranda of Understanding with a number of countries including the United Kingdom and Japan. In May 2025, Iraqi Ministry of Planning announced that the unemployment rate in Iraq had dropped from 17% in 2022 to 13% in 2025. A report published on 24 July 2025 and submitted to the United Nations Security Council, assessed that ISIS "is at its weakest" in Iraq since its emergence.
Geography
Iraq lies between latitudes 29° and 38° N, and longitudes 39° and 49° E (a small area lies west of 39°). Spanning 437,072 km2 (168,754 mi2), it is the 58th-largest country in the world.
It has a coastline measuring 58 km (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf. Further north, but below the main headwaters only, the country easily encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab, thence the Persian Gulf. Broadly flanking this estuary (known as arvandrūd: اروندرود among Iranians) are marshlands, semi-agricultural. Flanking and between the two major rivers are fertile alluvial plains, as the rivers carry about 60,000,000 m3 (78,477,037 cu yd) of silt annually to the delta.
The central part of the south, which slightly tapers in favour of other countries, is natural vegetation marsh mixed with rice paddies and is humid, relative to the rest of the plains. Iraq has the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert.
Rocky deserts cover about 40 percent of Iraq. Another 30 percent is mountainous with bitterly cold winters. The north of the country is mostly composed of mountains; the highest point being at 3,611 m (11,847 ft). Iraq is home to seven terrestrial ecoregions: Zagros Mountains forest steppe, Middle East steppe, Mesopotamian Marshes, Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests, Arabian Desert, Mesopotamian shrub desert, and South Iran Nubo-Sindian desert and semi-desert.
Climate
Much of Iraq has a hot arid climate with subtropical influence. Summer temperatures average above 40 °C (104 °F) for most of the country and frequently exceed 48 °C (118.4 °F). Winter temperatures infrequently exceed 15 °C (59.0 °F) with maxima roughly 5 to 10 °C (41.0 to 50.0 °F) and night-time lows 1 to 5 °C (33.8 to 41.0 °F). Typically, precipitation is low; most places receive less than 250 mm (9.8 in) annually, with maximum rainfall occurring during the winter months. Rainfall during the summer is rare, except in northern parts of the country.
The northern mountainous regions have cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing extensive flooding. Iraq is highly vulnerable to climate change. The country is subject to rising temperatures and reduced rainfall, and suffers from increasing water scarcity for a human population that rose tenfold between 1890 and 2010 and continues to rise.
The country's electrical grid faces systemic pressures due to climate change, fuel shortages, and an increase in demand. Corruption remains endemic throughout all levels of Iraqi governance while the political system has exacerbated sectarian conflict. Climate change is driving wide-scale droughts across the country while water reserves are rapidly depleting. The country has been in a prolonged drought since 2020 and experienced its second-driest season in the past four decades in 2021. Water flows in the Tigris and Euphrates are down between 30 and 40%. Half of the country's farmland is at risk of desertification. Nearly 40% of Iraq "has been overtaken by blowing desert sands that claim tens of thousands of acres of arable land every year".
However, in 2023, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced that government was working on a wider "Iraqi vision for climate action". The plan would include promoting clean and renewable energy, new irrigation and water treatment projects and reduced industrial gas flaring, he said. Sudani said Iraq was "moving forward to conclude contracts for constructing renewable energy power plants to provide one-third of our electricity demand by 2030". In addition, Iraq will plant 5 million trees across the country and will create green belts around cities to act as windbreaks against dust storms.
In the same year, Iraq and TotalEnergies signed a $27 billion energy deal that aims to increase oil production and boost the country's capacity to produce energy with four oil, gas and renewables projects. According to experts, the project will "accelerate Iraq's path to energy self-sufficiency and advance Iraq's collective climate change objectives".