Russia is ready to supply Iraqi Kurdistan with assault helicopters after Obama refused the KRG leader’s request for an air force. Moscow has acquired a stake in the oil of Kirkuk and accepts the Kurds’ need of an air force to protect it. Iraqi prime minister Maliki plands to ...

Kurdistan's regional president Masoud Barzani claims America has betrayed the Kurds and left them at the prey of Iraq's Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has already cut off oil revenues due to the Kurdish republic under a sealed and signed accord.

Gulf rulers led by Saudi Arabia say that by packing up its bags and leaving, the US military abandoned Iraq the country to an Iranian power grab led by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and released its sectarian demons. They are therefore determined to go it alone against Iran.

Tehran offers to slow uranium enrichment in stages in step with the lifting of sanctions. The Obama administration is listening - provided Iran ditches Assad. This exchange of messages was carried by Iraqi PM Nouri al Maliki when he visited Washington this week.  It was the main subject of President Barack Obama's talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak Friday, Dec. 16. Israel is concerned that Iran has again contrived to buy time and leeway for completing its nuclear weapon program.

The US exit from Iraq at year's end leaves in place 30,000 fighters of Iran's Al Qods Brigades trained in elite guerilla warfare. At least half are disguised as private security personnel for Iraqi ministers and politicians in Baghdad, providing Tehran with a strong lever of manipulation. America's Iraq war therefore draws to a close as thousands of Al Qods operatives take up positions in the Green Zone, the Baghdad enclave built at great cost for US headquarters in Iraq.   

The Iraqi Prime Minister's delay in confirm his deal with US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta for an American military nucleus to remain in Iraq after the pullout persuaded the US official to cut a back-up deal with semi-autonomous Kurdistan to provide the US army and air force with ...

New US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki quietly agree to at least 15,000 US troops remaining in Iraq after 2011in the guise of diplomats and other civilian personnel with America keeping control of four big air bases – two of them facing Iran. The Iraqi ...

Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was injured in an attempt on his life last Thursday, March 11, debkafile discloses. His armored convoy came under an RPG-automatic fire attack after a bomb hit his car. US and Iraqi authorities have blacked out the incident, but our sources learn he is being treated at the American military hospital for moderate-to-serious injuries, lifting the chances of his main rival Iyad Allawi to become Iraq's next prime minister.

 

Preliminary Iraqi election results show incumbent prime minister Nouri Maliki returned with a commanding 100 parliamentary seats out of 325 and the ability to form a pro-American coalition with Iyad Allawi's secular alliance and the Kurdish bloc that will be stable enough for US troops to depart Iraq on schedule.