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Meetings in Washington Pave Way for Establishment of Strategic Iraqi-US Ties

This handout photo released by the Iraqi prime minister's press office shows premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) overseeing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq's Electricity Authority and the the US General Electric company in Baghdad on February 16, 2023. (Iraqi Prime Minister's Press Office / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Iraqi prime minister's press office shows premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) overseeing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq's Electricity Authority and the the US General Electric company in Baghdad on February 16, 2023. (Iraqi Prime Minister's Press Office / AFP)
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Meetings in Washington Pave Way for Establishment of Strategic Iraqi-US Ties

This handout photo released by the Iraqi prime minister's press office shows premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) overseeing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq's Electricity Authority and the the US General Electric company in Baghdad on February 16, 2023. (Iraqi Prime Minister's Press Office / AFP)
This handout photo released by the Iraqi prime minister's press office shows premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) overseeing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq's Electricity Authority and the the US General Electric company in Baghdad on February 16, 2023. (Iraqi Prime Minister's Press Office / AFP)

Iraq and the United States concluded on Wednesday week-long negotiations in Washington that tackled the future of relations between their countries in line with their 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA).

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Secretary of State Antony Blinken co-chaired a Higher Coordinating Committee (HCC), in accordance with the SFA for a Relationship of Friendship and Cooperation between the US and Iraq, said a State Department statement.

“The delegations reaffirmed their determination to deepen the strategic relationship across the full range of bilateral issues, for the sake of their respective national interests and their shared interest in regional stability,” it continued.

This meeting marked the first time the HCC focused on economic cooperation, energy sector development, and climate change – a sign of a maturing strategic partnership under the SFA, it added.

The Iraqi delegation included high-level representatives from the Council of Representatives, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Oil, the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Electricity, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Climate Envoy, and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

In addition to the Secretary of State, the US delegation included National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Energy and Infrastructure Amos Hochstein, Coordinator for Global Anti-Corruption Richard Nephew, and National Security Council Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk, as well as senior officials from the Departments of State, Treasury, Energy, and Commerce.

“The two sides discussed challenges facing Iraq’s economy, including the parallel currency exchange markets,” continued the statement.

“The United States welcomed the Iraqi government’s efforts to enact economic and monetary-policy reforms, modernize the financial and banking system, combat corruption, and prevent manipulation of the financial system – actions that can help boost Iraq’s economic prospects, including strengthening financial and currency markets,” it said.

“The US delegation reiterated support for Iraq’s ongoing efforts to build technical capacity and implement international standards to protect the banking system from financial crimes, money laundering, and terrorist financing.”

“The two sides resolved to continue working together to modernize Iraq’s financial system for the betterment of the Iraqi people,” stressed the statement.

“The US and Iraqi delegations shared the view that pursuing an ambitious energy-independence agenda is necessary to maximize Iraq’s economic prosperity and safeguard its sovereignty. The two delegations acknowledged that Iraq has a historic opportunity to invest in energy infrastructure initiatives designed to improve electricity services for the Iraqi people, secure Iraq’s energy self-sufficiency, and mitigate environmental damage to both the global climate and Iraqi public health,” it noted.

“To this end, the two sides resolved to accelerate efforts to capture flared gas, upgrade natural gas distribution infrastructure and reduce methane leakage, regionally interconnect Iraq’s electricity grid, modernize Iraq’s electricity infrastructure, and explore renewable energy opportunities.”

“The US delegation lauded Iraq’s commitment to regional electricity interconnection projects with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority,” it added.

Head of the Center for Political Thinking in Iraq Dr. Ihssan Shmary told Asharq Al-Awsat that the joint Iraqi-US statement “draws the roadmap” of relations between the two countries, notably with a Baghdad government that was formed by the pro-Iran Coordination Framework.

The meetings in Washington will “test the intentions” of officials when it comes to translating the statements into action, he remarked.

Previous governments failed to “revive” or “invest” in the strategic framework agreement, significantly because of the balance of power in Iraq and Iran’s “veto” when it comes to developing relations between Baghdad and Washington, he explained.

“It now appears as though we are facing a new phase that will test Iraq and its political class when it comes to relations with Washington, especially among the Coordination Framework,” Shmary noted.

It is now up to the PM to decide whether he would forge ahead with the SFA, the Coordination Framework to decide whether it will view the US as an enemy or partner, and Iran to decide whether it will allow this relationship to grow, he stressed.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani oversaw in Washington on Thursday the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Electricity and General Electric.

The agreement falls in line with the “framework of the government program that aims to develop the electricity sector in Iraq,” said a statement from Sudani’s office.

The MoU covers developing the electrical production and increasing the efficiency of the electrical grid, as well as transportation, maintenance, staff training, and reducing carbon emissions to support the energy transition in Iraq.

The government is serious in supporting the energy file and providing full support to the electricity ministry in order to raise production and resolve the electricity crisis to ease the suffering of the people, Sudani was quoted as saying.

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Arab World

Israeli Forces Raid Town of Suspected Palestinian Gunman

Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
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Israeli Forces Raid Town of Suspected Palestinian Gunman

Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman

Israeli forces on Monday raided the hometown of a Palestinian man suspected of shooting dead an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank the day before, local authorities said.

Sunday's shooting occurred near the Israeli settlement of Neveh Tzuf, north of Ramallah, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, with the suspected assailant apprehended by soldiers after being located at a hospital.

Israel's military told AFP on Sunday that its troops had raided the home of the attacker's family in the Palestinian village of Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The Jerusalem Governorate, the Palestinian local authority for the area, said Israeli forces then raided Biddu at dawn on Monday and "carried out a large-scale arrest campaign targeting dozens of young men".

"The raid was accompanied by searches, vandalism, and the smashing of property inside a number of homes, as well as physical assaults on several residents," it said, adding that the raid was ongoing.

When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports.

An AFP photographer saw Israeli forces in the town on Monday morning.

Biddu's mayor, Nazmi Mansour, told AFP that the military had stormed the town after midnight with "dozens of military jeeps and hundreds of soldiers".

"The soldiers began house-to-house searches and set up field interrogation centers in buildings they had taken control of," he said, adding that dozens of people were questioned.

"The army is still present in the town and has closed off its entrances, and all commercial shops are shut," he told AFP by telephone.

Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said at the site of the attack Sunday that the military remained "on high alert".

"We will impose a closure on the village and conduct investigations, through which we will reach everyone who assisted the terrorist," Zamir said.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for the attacker to be the first person executed under a recently approved death penalty law.

The new law imposes the death penalty by default on Palestinians from the West Bank convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence there has surged since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza war.

Arab World

Lebanon Seeks UNIFIL Mandate Extension amid Lack of Agreement on Alternative

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)
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Lebanon Seeks UNIFIL Mandate Extension amid Lack of Agreement on Alternative

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)

Lebanon is intensifying international and Arab diplomatic efforts to avert a security vacuum in the south when the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), tasked by the UN Security Council with implementing Resolution 1701, expires at the end of the year.

President Joseph Aoun raised the issue at a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and Jordan’s King Abdullah II on the sidelines of a preparatory conference in Paris to support the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces.

The matter is also expected to top Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s agenda during his meetings in New York, where he is leading Lebanon’s delegation to the 81st UN General Assembly, and later in Washington, where he is due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Lebanon is placing importance on peace talks in New York and on a meeting with Rubio to prevent a security vacuum in the south if UNIFIL withdraws, amid a lack of agreement on an international body to replace it.

UNIFIL commander Major General Diodato Abagnara warned of the issue, questioning which authority would take over from the mission, saying that “more than half of our positions in southern Lebanon are under Israeli control.”

A ministerial source said Aoun raised concerns about a potential vacuum during his talks with Macron and King Abdullah.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that both leaders shared those concerns and promised to contact US President Donald Trump to seek his approval, at Aoun’s request, for extending UNIFIL’s mandate by six months to a year.

Such an extension, the source added, could help activate the “framework agreement” and expand “pilot zones” where the Lebanese Army could deploy with UNIFIL support.

Macron and King Abdullah are also counting on Trump’s commitment to help Lebanon implement the agreement under UNIFIL supervision or that of any UN force that might replace it, according to the source.

European Union countries understand Lebanon’s concerns and are working to formulate a proposal before the end of October that would preserve an international presence in the south to accompany a phased Israeli withdrawal if efforts to persuade Trump to extend UNIFIL’s mandate fail.

The source stressed that any replacement should operate under UN auspices rather than leave the international presence limited to the US-dominated “Mechanism” committee, from which Washington has excluded France.

A European official was quoted as saying that Lebanon should not be left alone in calling for an international force to replace UNIFIL and that European countries would support efforts to prevent a vacuum, including during meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Lebanon is also insisting that Israel evacuate the Ali al-Taher hills and hand them over to the Lebanese Army, alongside the establishment of a monitoring post there with a predominantly US presence.

Israel has refused to hand the area to the army and wants the Lebanese request placed on the agenda of an eighth round of negotiations, which Rome would host for a third time. No date has yet been set.

The ministerial source said Washington, as sponsor of the framework agreement, is responsible for setting up the date. The United States is currently pressing Israel to agree to expand the “pilot zones,” he added.

But US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s statement that Israeli forces would remain in the south until the Lebanese Army becomes strong offered little grounds for optimism, the source said. Israel has continued targeting areas retaken in the south, preventing the Lebanese Army from deploying there, and has yet to agree to a verification mechanism to ensure areas are free of Hezbollah weapons and fighters.

A Western diplomat said Lebanon’s friends, particularly several European countries, have begun questioning why Trump has not followed through on commitments he made to Aoun during their Washington summit.

Concerns over a possible UN vacuum in the south are expected to feature prominently in Arab and European discussions with Trump and senior US officials.

The diplomat said Lebanon’s allies had little choice but to support Aoun and Salam’s government in strengthening the state’s position vis-à-vis Hezbollah, questioning what the seventh round of negotiations had achieved.

He argued that Lebanon could not afford to postpone implementation of the framework agreement until after Israel’s Knesset elections.

The ministerial source accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of continuing to bulldoze towns and systematically destroy homes on the pretext of eliminating remaining Hezbollah military infrastructure. He said Netanyahu was primarily seeking to push Lebanon into abandoning the negotiations and boycotting the eighth round unless Israeli attacks ceased.

Aoun, however, remains committed to negotiations and will not be drawn into what the source described as Netanyahu’s strategy. In the source’s view, Netanyahu accepted the framework agreement under US pressure but has avoided implementing it ahead of the Israeli elections.

The source also pointed to parliament’s third renewal of confidence in Salam’s government as evidence that a majority of lawmakers remained committed to the framework agreement and to the principle that weapons should be held exclusively by the state.

He nevertheless warned that Lebanon’s worsening cost-of-living crisis could put the government at odds with much of the population unless it finds ways to ease pressure on low-income households — something that would require financial assistance from Arab and international partners.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, continues to insist on retaining its weapons and rejects the framework agreement. The group was surprised by the renewed confidence vote in Salam’s government, particularly after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil unexpectedly proposed it at the end of parliament’s questioning of the government.

Hezbollah left the chamber before voting began.

The group has also rejected local and Arab mediation efforts urging it to hand over an initial batch of offensive weapons as long as it stays committed not to respond to Israeli attacks.

The source underlined that such a move would open the way for Hezbollah to join the state project rather than remain isolated, particularly as it bets on an Iranian-US memorandum of understanding whose implementation reached an impasse, compounded by Washington’s refusal to link Lebanon to the Iranian track.

Arab World

Iraq Court Delays Ruling on Dissolving Kurdistan Parliament, Government

Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)
Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)
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Iraq Court Delays Ruling on Dissolving Kurdistan Parliament, Government

Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)
Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Sunday postponed consideration of two lawsuits challenging the continued legitimacy of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament and government, setting Oct. 26 as a new date for a ruling.

The cases seek the dissolution of the regional parliament and an end to the government’s full powers following nearly two years of political deadlock that has prevented the legislature elected in October 2024 from functioning normally.

Meanwhile, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, speaking at a ceremony marking the start of the 2026-2027 school year in Erbil on Sunday, called for the rule of law to prevail throughout Iraq.

“All weapons outside the authority of the state, the government and legitimate institutions must be disarmed,” Barzani said.

Armed factions have made their own disarmament conditional on the decision also applying to the Kurdish Peshmerga and on the force being placed under the orders of Iraq’s commander-in-chief rather than the regional government.

Kurdish authorities reject that demand, citing Article 121(5) of Iraq’s constitution, which grants the regional government responsibility for establishing and organizing internal security forces, including police, security services and regional guards.

Barzani also urged members of the Kurdistan Parliament to “end their boycott of sessions and fulfill their national and oversight duties,” stressing that reactivating parliament was the “first and essential step” toward forming a new regional government.

Political deadlock

The Kurdistan Region has been mired in political paralysis since its October 2024 parliamentary elections. The new legislature has met only once, in January 2025, and has failed to elect a permanent speaker or pave the way for the formation of a new government.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, won 39 of the 100 seats, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Bafel Talabani, secured 23. The New Generation Movement came third with 15 seats.

Deep disagreements between the KDP and PUK over the composition of the government and distribution of senior posts have stalled the process.

Former regional lawmaker Ali Hama Salih filed the two lawsuits with the Federal Supreme Court.

The first challenges the constitutionality of allowing the current parliament to continue after it failed to perform its legislative duties following its inaugural January 2025 session.

The second seeks to strip the Kurdistan Regional Government of its full governing mandate and reduce it to caretaker status, barring it from making strategic decisions or entering into long-term contracts and legal commitments.

Court weighs cases

Commenting on the postponement, Kurdish writer and adviser Kifah Mahmoud said the Federal Supreme Court appeared to want more time to examine the situation and consult the parties to the cases.

Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that governments normally assume caretaker status once a parliament’s term ends, but argued that Kurdistan’s circumstances were different because the current government had continued implementing strategic road, water and electricity projects despite financial difficulties.

He attributed part of the political impasse to one party seeking greater gains than its parliamentary representation warranted, an apparent reference to the PUK.

Mahmoud nevertheless described negotiations between the KDP and PUK as “positive,” saying they could lead to a coalition government.

KDP spokesman Mahmoud Mohammed separately confirmed that his party was holding “serious and intensive” talks with political forces to resolve outstanding issues.

He said meetings between the KDP and PUK would continue away from media spotlight in an effort to reactivate parliament and move ahead with forming a new Kurdistan Regional Government.

The resumption of parliamentary activity, he added, would depend on the outcome of those talks.