By Simon Kent. Elements of three Iraqi army divisions have cut off Fallujah, bolstered by Ministry of Interior forces and Hashd al Shaabi paramilitaries. According to The Daily Beast, there is new urgency to move into the center of the town, which is a short drive from Baghdad, following a wave of bombings targeting civilians in the […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq's Deputy Oil Minister Fayadh Nema, who is currently acting Oil Minister until Abadi's new cabinet is finalized, has recently announced a trip to Tehran to discuss cross border oil fields. Once a controversial topic between Tehran and Baghdad, Iraq's many cross border oil fields are now back on the agenda as sanctions […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi officials in Iraq's western province of Anbar have discovered a mass grave near the provincial capital of Ramadi. The town was cleared of ISIS fighters in January, and ISIS prisoners led officials to the burial site, which contains 40 bodies, 6 of whom have been identified. Although Ramadi is a predominantly […]
By Simon Kent RSK Group have recently won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, widely seen as the most prestigious award for UK enterprise. Key to the award was their environmental work cleaning up the vast oilfields at Rumaila and Majnoon. But according to RSK Group, this was an opportunity they seized in […]
By Simon Kent. Finland is set to increase its training and assistance mission to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces, sending an extra 50 commandos to help the Kurds counter improvised explosive devices and other ISIS tactics. The move came amid some debate in the Finnish parliament, but MPs' concerns were assuaged by the fact that the […]
By Simon Kent. One of the problems the so called Islamic State have encountered recently is the transition from being a terrorist group to a terrorist army. Of course, an army has far more targets to hit from the air and ISIS continually discover this the hard way. According to the most recent statement from […]
By Simon Kent. As Iraq's political crisis drags on, Moqtada al Sadr's erratic posturing continues. Last month, he called for mass demonstrations outside of the International Zone in Baghdad, formerly the Green Zone, and threatened to storm the area with protesters unless PM Abadi appointed a technocratic cabinet. But when Abadi announced 14 nominees, Al […]
By Simon Kent. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has met with Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani and six of his counterparts from the GCC, to discuss the war against the so called Islamic State in Iraq. The meeting comes ahead of a planned GCC summit this week, which Barack Obama will attend. But underlying the […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alak has said that Iraq is issuing bonds to the value of around $2 billion in the next few months, following last year's aborted issuance after investors demanded too high a yield. At the time, investors demanded an 11% yield on the bonds, and the issuance was handled […]
By Wassim Bassem for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. BABIL, Iraq — Under the rule of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (2006-14), $150 million was allocated to the construction and development of public schools in several Iraqi areas. Yet only […]
By Simon Kent. The National Iranian Gas Transmission Company has announced that 100km of pipeline has been completed on the Iranian side of the border, part of a planned 270km network to take gas to power stations near Baghdad. The project is part of a deal signed between both countries in 2013, whereby Iran would export […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq's representative to OPEC Falah Al-Amri has announced that plans are underway for a second round of talks on freezing OPEC output in June. Currently, Iran is now the sticking point in any such deal, aiming for 4 million BPD by March, and one Iranian official has called talks by non-OPEC members of […]
