Once-Bustling Baghdad Boulevard Dallies in Disrepair

Baghdad's Rasheed Street once hosted cinemas, artisan shops and smoky cafes playing classic ballads. (AFP)
Baghdad's Rasheed Street once hosted cinemas, artisan shops and smoky cafes playing classic ballads. (AFP)
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Once-Bustling Baghdad Boulevard Dallies in Disrepair

Baghdad's Rasheed Street once hosted cinemas, artisan shops and smoky cafes playing classic ballads. (AFP)
Baghdad's Rasheed Street once hosted cinemas, artisan shops and smoky cafes playing classic ballads. (AFP)

Behind the dilapidated storefronts and collapsing colonnades of Rasheed Street lie the treasures of the Iraqi capital's cultural boom years: old cinemas, artisan shops and smoky cafes playing classic ballads.

But with young Iraqis listening to modern music and spending hours in hipster-style coffee shops, the boulevard that bustled non-stop in the 1970s is at risk of being passed over, said an AFP report Tuesday.

Authorities have tried to revive the street in recent weeks by removing the security checkpoints and concrete blast walls that lined Rasheed for years.

Announcing the move, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi extolled: "Rasheed Street is the memory of Baghdad."

Despite his government's best efforts though, it may be reduced to only that.

Decades ago, the street's Umm Kulthum Cafe was packed with wistful young men listening to the sultry voice of its namesake, the Egyptian "queen" of Arabic music.

"Coming here was a daily tradition for us. We used to have a lovely time," reminisced Abu Haidar, a retired army serviceman in his seventies.

It was so busy that customers -- writers, men on their way to or from work, and those seeking solace in the music -- struggled to call over harried waiters to order muddy coffee and sweet Iraqi tea.

Now, it only fills up on Saturdays, the traditional day for meeting up with friends in cafes, when older men chain-smoke and sip hot drinks on wooden benches under framed portraits of Iraq's unseated king, Faisal II.

"After all these years, this coffee shop is the only place we can go to remember," said Abu Haidar.

"We hope it can escape extinction."

Some date the street's deterioration back to the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"I started coming here in 1971, but after 2003, it was ignored," said Tareq Jamila, 70, another cafe customer.

"You wouldn't find the old pioneers, who used to sit in the coffee shop and actually understand Umm Kulthum's songs."

The invasion and sectarian violence that followed saw several bombs planted near Rasheed Street, with the last explosion in 2016 killing more than two dozen people, said AFP.

Other historic areas of the capital similarly fell into disrepair during the years of bloodshed, with Baghdadis often filled with nostalgia for the past.

The floor of the abandoned Mekki Awwad theater, further south in the capital along the winding Tigris River, is blanketed in dust and litter.

It once hosted boisterous nighttime shows, but the rows of numbered seats have not been occupied in years.

Art galleries dotting the neighborhoods between the theater and Rasheed Street have shuttered their doors one after the other.

As one of Baghdad's first cinemas, Al-Zawra had long been a legendary stop along Rasheed -- but it too lies unused now.

Last year, young Iraqi artists organized a walking tour through their capital in an effort to revive some of its historic districts with their own art installations.

Along the tired two-storey buildings of Rasheed Street, one photographer hung new versions of decades-old pictures of Baghdad's heralded past.

But instead of looking up at the photographs, most shoppers were more interested in the tables selling watches, shimmering carp and fake Adidas, reported AFP.

Another Umm Kulthum-themed cafe has opened on Rasheed, choosing one of the singer's nicknames -- Al-Ustura, or The Legend -- as its name.

Although its traditional yellow-brick walls and stained glass windows are "falling into ruin", the original Umm Kulthum is soldiering on, said Said al-Qaissi, 65.

"No one has considered renovating or preserving this place which celebrates art," said Qaissi.

While the cafe's elusive owner rarely makes a public appearance, young waiters dish out tea to older gentlemen in sweaters and berets, lost in awe of Umm Kulthum's voice and their own distant memories.



Trump Is at a Moment of Choosing as Israel Looks for More US Help Crushing Iran's Nuclear Program 

US President Donald Trump gestures as he attends a family photo session during the G7 Summit, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
US President Donald Trump gestures as he attends a family photo session during the G7 Summit, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
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Trump Is at a Moment of Choosing as Israel Looks for More US Help Crushing Iran's Nuclear Program 

US President Donald Trump gestures as he attends a family photo session during the G7 Summit, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
US President Donald Trump gestures as he attends a family photo session during the G7 Summit, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)

President Donald Trump in about eight hours Monday went from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained "achievable" to urging Tehran's 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his visit to an international summit to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.

He was expected to arrive at the White House early Tuesday at a moment of choosing in his presidency. Israel, with four days of missile strikes, has done considerable damage to Iran and believes it can now deal a permanent blow to Tehran's nuclear program, particularly if it gets a little more help from Trump.

But deepening American involvement, perhaps by providing the Israelis with bunker-busting bombs to penetrate Iranian nuclear sites built deep underground or offering other direct US military support, comes with enormous political risk for Trump.

He appears to be gradually building the public case for more direct American involvement.

"Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign," Trump posted on social media shortly before the White House announced that Trump was cutting short his visit to the Group of Seven summit in the Canadian Rockies. "What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"

Trump's shift in tone comes as the US has repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region to respond if the conflict between Israel and Iran further escalates.

Speculation grows that Trump may be tilting toward more direct involvement

The Israelis say their offensive has eviscerated Iran's air defenses and they can now strike targets across the country at will. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli bombardment will continue until Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missiles are destroyed.

So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear program sites but has not been able to destroy Iran's Fordo uranium enrichment facility.

The site is buried deep underground and to eliminate it, Israel may need the US bunker-busting bomb the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. But Israel does not have the munition or the bomber needed to deliver it; the penetrator is currently delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber.

Israel's own defenses remain largely intact in the face of Iran's retaliatory strikes, but some of Tehran's missiles are getting through and having deadly impact.

The White House, soon after announcing Trump was returning to Washington, dispatched Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a prime-time Fox News appearance as speculation grows about whether Trump could be tilting toward more direct US involvement.

Hegseth told Fox News' Jesse Watters that "of course" Trump wanted to see a deal made to curb Iran's nuclear program.

"His position has not changed," Hegseth said. "What you're watching in real time is peace through strength and America first. Our job is to be strong. We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that's what happens here."

Trump continues to push Iran to negotiate

Trump, meanwhile, during an exchange with reporters Monday on the sidelines of the G7, declined to say what it would take for the US to get more directly involved.

Instead, he continued to press Iran on negotiations over its nuclear program.

"They should talk, and they should talk immediately," Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. He added, "I'd say Iran is not winning this war."

To be certain, Trump in the days-old conflict has sought to restrain Netanyahu. He rejected a plan presented by Israel to the US to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to a US official familiar with the matter.

The Israelis had informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei.

After being briefed on the plan, the White House made clear to Israeli officials that Trump was opposed to the Israelis making the move, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A widening schism over Iran among Trump's MAGA supporters

Trump on Monday bristled when asked about some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further US involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end US involvement in expensive and endless wars.

Carlson, a former Fox News host pundit, last week called Trump "complicit in the act of war" in his subscriber newsletter.

Trump took a veiled swipe at Carlson, who for years hosted a popular prime-time show for Fox News, but was ousted in 2023 amid a cascade of bad legal news for the network.

"I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying," Trump told reporters. "Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen."

Later, Trump took another jab at Carlson, who had spoken on Trump's behalf at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

"Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that,' IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!'" the president wrote on social media.

Other prominent Trump supporters have also raised concerns about how far the president should go in backing Israel.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk are among prominent Trump World allies who have noted that voters backed Trump because he promised not to entangle the nation in foreign clashes and to be wary of expanding US involvement in the Mideast conflict.

He ran on a promise to quickly end the brutal wars in Gaza and Ukraine, but has struggled to find an endgame to either of those conflicts.

"No issue currently divides the right as much as foreign policy," Kirk posted on X last week, shortly before Israel began carrying out its strikes. "I'm very concerned based on (everything) I've seen in the grassroots the last few months that this will cause a massive schism in MAGA and potentially disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful Presidency."

But there are also Trump backers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who are making the case that this is Trump's moment to deliver a decisive blow to Iran. Graham is calling for Trump to "go all-in" in backing Israel and destroying Iran's nuclear program.

"No one can say that President @realDonaldTrump has not tried to seek peace regarding Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Iran," Graham wrote on X on Monday night. "He has gone the extra mile and I appreciate that. However, you have to have willing partners to make peace. Iran played the same old game with the wrong guy."