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Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
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Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo

Iraq's oil ministry said on Thursday it holds the Kurdish regional government (KRG) legally responsible for the continued smuggling of oil from the Kurdish region outside the country.

The ministry reserves the right to take all legal measures in the matter, it added.

Control over oil and gas has long been a source of tension between Baghdad and Erbil, Reuters reported.

Iraq is under pressure from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output to compensate for having produced more than its agreed volume. OPEC counts oil flows from Kurdistan as part of Iraq's quota.

In a ruling issued in 2022, Iraq's federal court deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand over their crude oil supplies.

The ministry said the KRG’s failure to comply with the law has hurt both oil exports and public revenue, forcing Baghdad to cut output from other fields to meet OPEC quotas.

The ministry added that it had urged the KRG to hand over crude produced from its fields, warning that failure to do so could result in significant financial losses and harm the country’s international reputation and oil commitments.

Negotiations to resume Kurdish oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline, which once handled about 0.5% of global oil supply, have stalled over payment terms and contract details.

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Arab World

Iran Threatens to Target Israeli Embassies Worldwide if Israel Targets Its Lebanon Mission

Smoke rises from a building damaged during strikes, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon March 4, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Obtained By Reuters/via Reuters
Smoke rises from a building damaged during strikes, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon March 4, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Obtained By Reuters/via Reuters
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Iran Threatens to Target Israeli Embassies Worldwide if Israel Targets Its Lebanon Mission

Smoke rises from a building damaged during strikes, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon March 4, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Obtained By Reuters/via Reuters
Smoke rises from a building damaged during strikes, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon March 4, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Obtained By Reuters/via Reuters

Iran's armed forces threatened on Wednesday to target Israeli missions worldwide if Israel were to attack Tehran's mission in Lebanon, a military spokesman said.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, said live on television that "if Israel commits such a crime, it will force us to make all Israeli embassies around the world our legitimate target".

On Tuesday, Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-language spokesman for the Israeli military, said it "warns representatives of the Iranian terror regime who are still in Lebanon to leave immediately before being targeted", giving them 24 hours to leave.

Arab World

Kurdish Forces Tighten Security on Iraq-Iran Border

Iraqi Kurds inspect the damage to their homes, after a drone attack struck their neighborhood in Erbil, Iraq, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP)
Iraqi Kurds inspect the damage to their homes, after a drone attack struck their neighborhood in Erbil, Iraq, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP)
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Kurdish Forces Tighten Security on Iraq-Iran Border

Iraqi Kurds inspect the damage to their homes, after a drone attack struck their neighborhood in Erbil, Iraq, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP)
Iraqi Kurds inspect the damage to their homes, after a drone attack struck their neighborhood in Erbil, Iraq, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP)

Iraqi Kurds inspect the damage to their homes, after a drone attack struck their neighborhood in Erbil, Iraq, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP)

Iraq's national security advisor said on Wednesday that Kurdish forces have bolstered security along the Iranian border to prevent any infiltration or attacks on Iran from Iraq.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region has been dragged into the Middle East war with drones threatening US bases and other attacks blamed on Iran targeting Kurdish-Iranian rebel fighters.

The Kurdistan region hosts camps and rear bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups that have repeatedly faced cross-border strikes from Iran, which has long accused them of serving Western or Israeli interests.

Qassem al-Araji told Iranian official Ali Bagheri during a phone call that Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has ordered that no group may "infiltrate into Iran and carry out terrorist acts from Iraqi territory".

Araji said that Iraqi Kurdish authorities have sent "security reinforcements to the border strip to fully tighten control over" it from the direction of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region.

He also said that Sudani ordered strict adherence to the security agreement between the two countries which they signed in 2023 to protect their common borders.

Iraq and Iran had previously agreed to disarm the Kurdish-Iranian rebels and remove them from border areas.

Since Tuesday, two Iranian Kurdish groups accused Iran of striking their positions in Kurdistan.

Last month, five groups announced a political coalition with the main goal being "the struggle to overthrow the Islamic republic of Iran, and to achieve self-determination for the Kurds".

On Wednesday, the Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Mustafa Hijri, urged soldiers and security personnel in Iran, especially in Kurdistan, to desert the Iranian forces.

Arab World

Lebanese Army Arrests 27 for Weapons Possession as Hezbollah Military Activity Banned

Destruction at the scene of an Israeli airstrike hitting a hotel in the Christian area of Baabda, Beirut, Lebanon, 04 March 2026. (EPA)
Destruction at the scene of an Israeli airstrike hitting a hotel in the Christian area of Baabda, Beirut, Lebanon, 04 March 2026. (EPA)
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Lebanese Army Arrests 27 for Weapons Possession as Hezbollah Military Activity Banned

Destruction at the scene of an Israeli airstrike hitting a hotel in the Christian area of Baabda, Beirut, Lebanon, 04 March 2026. (EPA)
Destruction at the scene of an Israeli airstrike hitting a hotel in the Christian area of Baabda, Beirut, Lebanon, 04 March 2026. (EPA)

The Lebanese army said Wednesday it had arrested 27 people in the past two days for "illegally possessing weapons and ammunition", following a government decision to ban Hezbollah's military activities.

In a statement, the army said troops at its checkpoints "detained over the past two days 26 Lebanese nationals and one Palestinian in several areas for illegally possessing weapons and ammunition".

It added that the move was part of "exceptional measures to maintain security and prevent armed displays in various regions".

The Lebanese state banned the military activities of Hezbollah on Monday after the pro-Iran group launched rockets towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

The United States and Israel launched deadly strikes on Iran on Saturday that killed Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran retaliated swiftly with missile fire targeting Israel and also launched strikes against several countries in the region, saying it was aiming at US assets.