Muqtada Al-Sadr

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expelled the Swedish ambassador on Wednesday, even as a mob of protesters waving photos of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire.

IRAQ – For President Joe Biden, a renewed Middle East crisis lurks just as the Afghan withdrawal debacle enters the rearview mirror and record-high gas prices continue to retreat.

President Nechirvan Barzani, who presides over the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, warned in conversation with a German legislative delegation that the Islamic State remains a “serious threat” to the country, the KRG revealed in a press release on Wednesday.

Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled Wednesday that it lacks the legal authority to dissolve Parliament, as demanded by Shiite nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The much-anticipated ruling sets the stage for a showdown between Sadr’s followers and other factions, as Iraq approaches one full year without a functional government.

China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday heaped blame on the United States for an ugly battle in Baghdad, Iraq, between Shiite Muslim nationalists and Shiites loyal to Iran.

Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his supporters to stop violent riots in Baghdad on Tuesday after 24 hours that left at least 30 dead and hundreds wounded in the Iraqi capital’s “Green Zone.”

Powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced his “final withdrawal” from politics on Monday, citing his frustration with the paralyzed Iraqi system.

Iraq held its parliamentary elections on Sunday, several months ahead of schedule. Turnout was disappointingly low, and despite heavy billing as an opportunity for the disgruntled Iraqi public to make big changes, there were no seismic shifts in power.

Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi resigned Tuesday, saying he had a “moral obligation” to do so — and a need to preserve “my career path, my family, and professional history” — after a fire at the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad on April 24 killed about 130 people.

Anti-government protests in the southern city of Nasiriyah, Iraq, left one police officer and two demonstrators dead on Sunday, the Iraqi Army said.

A group of Iraqi women joined ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Thursday — a daring exercise given both cultural stigmas against women participating in politics and the proclivity of Iran-backed Shiite militia thugs and Iraqi government security forces for murdering demonstrators.

Defiant protesters continue to fill the streets of Iraq despite attacks from security forces and Iran-backed militias that may have killed 550 demonstrators, according to the Iraqi Commission for Human Rights (ICHR).

A barrage of rocket fire targeted Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Sunday, hitting part of the U.S. embassy complex in that country. Saudi Arabia’s al-Arabiya news agency noted that the American compound “has been regularly hit by rockets in recent months.”

Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arranged a sizable anti-American demonstration in Baghdad on Friday, putting his followers on the streets alongside ongoing protests against corruption and the excessive political influence of Iran.

Muqtada al-Sadr, perhaps the second most influential Shiite leader in Iraq after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Thursday urged Shiite militia forces to be “patient” and stand down because the “crisis is over” between the U.S. and Iran.

Iraqi police fired tear gas and stun grenades on Friday as protests resumed in Baghdad after three weeks of relative calm. There were also reports of live rounds being fired. The Iraqi Human Rights Commission reported 21 killed and 1779 injured in disturbances around the country.

Two unnamed Iraqi security officials told Reuters on Thursday that snipers from Iran-backed militia units were employed to kill civilians during the massive protests that erupted in the first week of October.

Iraqi President Barham Salih on Monday condemned violence against protesters and journalists during demonstrations across the country and called on the Iraqi military to protect them.

The death toll from four days of widespread protests in Iraq climbed to 60 as of Friday afternoon, with a growing number of allegations that security forces are unnecessarily targeting demonstrators with lethal ammunition.

The Iraqi parliament met on Monday for the first time since the elections in May, but it remains unclear which bloc of allied political interests will form the new government.

Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose coalition won the country’s latest parliamentary elections, called for the dissolution of Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades), the militia wing of his movement, for the sake of “public interest” on Thursday as he seeks the formation of Iraq’s next government.

Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled this week that the parliament’s decision to manually recount votes cast during last month’s election is constitutional, following widespread allegations of fraud at the polling booths.

Several Iraqi officials who suffered losses during last month’s legislative elections, including the prime minister, are claiming the fire that engulfed the country’s most massive ballot warehouse this weekend was a deliberate act intended to sabotage a vote recount prompted by allegations.

Iraq’s parliament, on Wednesday, passed a law mandating a manual recount of votes cast in the May 12 parliamentary elections.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States in Iraq, called the United States “an invader country” in remarks Wednesday, vowing to do whatever he could to diminish America’s role in the country.

Despite years of discord and distance between them, Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi said this week Iraq’s Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr is a “dear and influential friend and brother” of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iraq’s Election Commission released the final results of last week’s Parliamentary Elections early Saturday local time and declared Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sayirun (“On the Move”) coalition the winner of the majority of seats in Parliament.

Unknown gunmen reportedly attacked two military and religious bases belonging to Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sadrist Movement on Wednesday in Maysan province in southeastern Iraq, on the Iran-Iraq border, following the Shiite cleric’s preliminary parliamentary victory.

Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, expected to be named the victor when Friday’s final Iraqi election results are published, is reportedly seeking to ally his Sairoon coalition (On the move) with several allied blocs in Iraq to form a government.

Final numbers for Iraq’s parliamentary election, which took place on Saturday, will not be available until this Friday, although estimates appear to show Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s coalition leading.

Violent protests, featuring a rocket launch targeting Baghdad’s government Green Zone, killed five protesters and a policeman in the Iraqi capital this weekend. The incident triggered yet another protest Tuesday as throngs of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr carried their colleagues’ coffins through the city streets.

Contents: Iraq: Supporters of al-Sadr and al-Maliki turn again to violence in Baghdad; Iraq’s army poised to begin Battle of Mosul in the west

Relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would amount to a “declaration of war against Islam” that would require the formation of an armed group to liberate the holy city, said prominent Shiite Iraqi cleric and powerful militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

On Sunday, the influential Shi’ite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his followers to target U.S. troops that are being dispatched to Iraq to fight against the Islamic State.

It has to come to this: Muqtada Al Sadr, now more than ever, is calling the shots in Iraq.

Contents: Reader question on Iran and Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr; European Commission expected to recommend visa-free travel for citizens of Turkey