Archive | Security

Iraq to Renegotiate Russian Arms Deal

By John Lee. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh (pictured) has announced that the country is to renegotiate the recent $4.2-billion weapons deal with Russia: "It will renegotiate with Russia to put an end to suspicions of corruption in the weapons deal", he said. The turnaround follows the ouster of Russia's defense minister earlier this week, […]

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Ex Central Bank Chief Accuses Govt

By John Lee. Sinan al-Shabibi (pictured), the former head Iraq's Central Bank who was removed for suspected mismanagement and currency manipulation, has dismissed the charges against him as baseless and trumped up. Speaking to AFP, he said authorities had compromised the bank's independence to access its reserves, adding that the government had been "spoiled" by […]

Weekly Security Update

By Gary Sandiford, Olive Group’s Dubai based assessments manager.  Olive Group is a leading provider of security and technology solutions and has operated continuously in Iraq since 2003.   Overview Olive Groups Iraq statistics are drawn from multiple sources, including media reporting and direct liaison with in country assets. Included within the statistics are a […]

Turkey Wins $350m Iraq Drilling Contract

By John Lee. Turkey's Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz (pictured), has said the country has signed a $350 million deal to drill 40 oil wells in the Basra area, and is in talks on drilling 7,000 wells across Iraq. Details of the timeframe or companies involved were not immediately available. According to a report from Reuters, […]

Foreign Minister Welcomes New Syrian Ambassador to Iraq

By John Lee. The new Syrian Ambassador in Baghdad, Sattam Jadaan Al Dandah, presented his credentials to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Thursday. During the meeting, they discussed relations between the two countries and peoples, in addition to the developments of the Syrian crisis. The Minister stressed the ministry's readiness to provide assistance and support […]

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Weekly Security Update

By Gary Sandiford, Olive Group’s Dubai based assessments manager.  Olive Group is a leading provider of security and technology solutions and has operated continuously in Iraq since 2003.   Overview Olive Groups Iraq statistics are drawn from multiple sources, including media reporting and direct liaison with in country assets. Included within the statistics are a […]

US Army Can’t Show Delivery of $1bn Fuel to Iraq

By John Lee. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has reported that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) did not establish effective internal controls to document that goods and services paid for using DFI funds were received in Iraq. SIGIR sampled 12 DFI-funded payments, totaling about $1.1 billion, made to USACE and found that […]

Iraq Ratifies Nuclear Protocol

By John Lee. The Iraqi Ambassador to Austria, Surood Rashid Najib, has met the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, and notified him that the Iraqi authorities have ratified the additional protocol to their comprehensive safeguards agreement and it has therefore entered into force. […]

Kurdish Villagers Demand Compensation for Forced Evacuations

By Abdul-Khaleq Dosky. This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Almost 30 years ago they were forced from their land so Turkish military could freely hunt rebels across the border. Now the Kurdish villagers, who have […]

Northrop Grumman Equips Iraqi Patrol Vessel

Advanced communication, sensor and navigation systems from Northrop Grumman have been installed on the Iraqi offshore patrol vessel, the Al-Fayhaa, which along with the Al-Basrah will conduct security missions in the northern Arabian Gulf According to a report from UPI, the systems for the first of two patrol vessels, procured by the U.S. Navy for […]

Biden's Brother to Bag Lucrative Iraq Deal?

By John Lee. Fox Business reports that James Biden, the younger brother of US Vice President Joe Biden (pictured), is about to land a potentially lucrative contract to build 100,000 homes in Iraq. Since November 2010, James Biden has reportedly been the executive vice president of HillStone, in which Hill International owns a 51% stake, […]