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Kuwait border: Relations also remain strained on Iraq’s southern frontier, where the joint maritime border remains only partially agreed. On 13 December, Kuwait and the US issued a fresh call on Baghdad to agree to the frontier’s demarcation beyond the currently agreed limit, set by boundary marker 162. They made the call following the sixth round of the Kuwait-US Strategic Dialogue, which was held virtually on 9-11 December. They also called on Iraq to stick to a 2012 agreement to regulate maritime navigation in the Khor Abdullah waterway, which the Iraqi Constitutional Court annulled in 2023.

President Barzani health scare: The office of President Nechirvan Barzani was forced to issue a statement on 10 December denying the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) leader had been suffering from ill health, amid rumours on social media of a health scare during his visit to Paris to attend the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral on 7 December. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Dilshad Shahab said such rumours were “unfounded” and “entirely false”.

The dramatic end to Bashir Al-Assad’s rule has created another crisis for Iran’s regional strategy and is an unnerving moment for Gulf monarchies which, in the name of ‘stability’, had been rebuilding ties with a Damascus regime that seemed to have survived a decade-plus of civil war. Diplomatic strategies will now have to be hastily redrawn, with an initial focus on ensuring Syria does not slide further into turmoil.

The Iraqi Air Force’s F-16 programme will continue for another six months, having been at risk after allegations that Iran-backed militias had become involved.

The first comprehensive census since the late 1980s has revealed that Iraq’s population now stands at 45.4m. Details of the census are likely to provoke debate about the allocation of resources, not least in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and could also lead to a sizeable expansion of the number of federal Council of Representatives members of parliament, unless a constitutional amendment is agreed.

The Iraq Fund for Development is hoping to nail down a $3bn commitment made by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund 18 months ago. At the same time, IFD is also holding discussions with the Dubai International Financial Centre over support for domestic tech companies. However, despite an upturn in Iraq’s economic prospects, local entrepreneurs and investors complain that not enough has been done to tackle corruption and bureaucratic inertia.

Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani was elected speaker of Iraq’s Council of Representatives in late October, almost a year after his predecessor was removed by the courts. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Sudani has had to reshuffle several cabinet posts and is faced with a potentially explosive wiretapping scandal.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party secured a solid win in the KRI’s long-waited 20 October vote, winning 39 seats against the 23 secured by its main challenger, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. In a toxic atmosphere the two rivals  now have to hammer out a deal to form the next Kurdistan Regional Government – a process that took ten months last time around.

The Brics summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the first meeting between Iran and the UAE since they became full members of the emerging economies’ bloc in January. The conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon were high up the agenda as the Russian city of Kazan hosted an event that allowed emerging economies to show off their potential as an eventual alternative to western economic dominance – and the dollar economy – but above all it allowed Putin to bask in the glow of peer group recognition, ahead of the US election, while his war in Ukraine rages on.

Saudi government-owned broadcaster MBC has found itself in hot water, after running a report which described recently-killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a ‘new face of terrorism’. Media regulators in Saudi Arabia are looking into the matter, while the authorities in Baghdad have shut down its local office and started the process of revoking its licence.

The General Company for Ports of Iraq and the Ministry of Transport launched an appeal in a US court in mid-September, in the latest attempt to frustrate a $120m arbitral award owed to Cyprus-based Archirodon Construction.

Elections to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s parliament are due to be held on 20 October, some two years later than originally planned. A total of 13 parties have registered to compete in the poll, but the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are expected to remain the dominant force.

Iraq has a limited military manufacturing base, but has been keen to do more, with medium ammunition and electric vehicle production plants also now under development.

The US Air Force Office of Special Investigations is believed to have opened an inquiry into a planned support services contract at Martyr Brigadier General Ali Flaih Air Base, following allegations over kickbacks and claims of links between a local subcontractor and Iran-backed militias.

Iraqi Kurdistan could finally go to the polls in September after the Kurdistan Democratic Party reportedly lifted its boycott of the regional parliamentary election.