BP’s Return to Kirkuk
A new deal between the Iraqi government and BP to develop oil fields in Iraq's most contested province could rekindle a century-old flame between Baghdad and Erbil.
Yerevan Saeed
Non-Resident Fellow, AGSIW; Mustafa Barzani Scholar In Residence and Director, Global Kurdish Initiative, American University
Yerevan Saeed is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington as well as the Barzani Scholar In-Residence and director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at the School of International Service of American University. He is a TEDx speaker and former lecturer at the University of Kurdistan Hewler. Saeed previously was a visiting scholar and research associate at AGSIW. Saeed is a political analyst who researches and writes on security, political, and energy issues in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq, Turkey, Iran, the Gulf, and the Levant. He has served as White House correspondent for the Kurdish Rudaw TV, and his work has been published in the Washington Institute’s Fikra Forum, the Diplomatic Courier, The New York Times, the London-based Majalla magazine, Rudaw, Global Politician, and several Kurdish newspapers. In addition, he has been interviewed by Voice of America, NPR, CNN, Voice of Russia, and Kurdish television programs and newspapers. From 2009-13, Saeed worked with Stratfor; additionally, he worked for several media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, BBC, and The Guardian, as a journalist and translator in Iraq from 2003-07.
Saeed holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, with a focus on Middle East studies and international negotiation and conflict resolution. He received his PhD from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. He speaks Kurdish and Arabic and has a command of Farsi.
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The Kurdish View on the U.S. Election
Iraq’s Kurdish population may benefit more from a consistent U.S. foreign policy under Harris than the unpredictability of another Trump term.
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Iraqi Provincial Elections Could Come With Major Political and Security Ramifications
The victory of pro-Iranian groups in Iraq’s provincial elections could exacerbate internal political tensions and raise concerns about regional stability.
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Iraq’s Supreme Court Removes Parliamentary Speaker
Mohammed al-Halbousi's ousting as speaker of parliament opens the door for Sunni adversaries to rise to power and could help consolidate the influence of Shia political movements in Iraq.
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Baghdad Squeezes Kurdistan Region on Legal and Economic Fronts, Prompting Crisis
Six years after its independence referendum, the Kurdistan region of Iraq confronts grave political, economic, and security challenges.
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Budding Kurdish-UAE Relations
The relationship between the Kurdistan region of Iraq and the United Arab Emirates is shaped by political, economic, and security factors, but intra-Kurdish divisions threaten to undermine this strategic partnership.
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Trilateral Agreement Necessary to Resolve Turkey-Iraq Oil Dispute
The resumption of Kurdish oil exports hinges on achieving consensus between Baghdad and Ankara, but a lasting solution can only be cemented through a trilateral agreement that includes Erbil.
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Increasing diplomatic engagements between Iraq and Egypt are helping to advance a more ambitious regional project with Jordan, but Gulf economic and statecraft dominance will shape the initiative’s objectives and ambitions.
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Saudi Arabia Makes Soft Power Comeback in Iraq
Saudi Arabia's soft power initiatives may help the kingdom advance its economic interests in Iraq and help strengthen Iraq’s ties with a key Gulf Arab neighbor.
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Iraq Deepens Ties With GCC Neighbors
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani’s predecessors laid the groundwork for strong economic ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and he now appears poised to take relations to the next level.
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While the Basra-Aqaba pipeline project promises economic, energy, and security benefits for Iraq and Jordan, high costs and political and security risks pose huge feasibility challenges.
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With a President in Place, Can Iraq Finally Form a Government?
Iraq finally has a president, and the political parties understand that at this juncture, they don’t have the luxury of time for negotiations over government formation.
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Kurdistan’s Gas Exports: Reality or Mirage?
There are a host of serious internal political conflicts as well as legal, financial, and geopolitical hurdles to increasing Kurdish gas exports, prompting questions regarding whether such aspirations are realistic.
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Empowered by His Missteps, Shia Rivals Force Sadr to Back Down – For Now
Rivals’ use of force to counter Muqtada al-Sadr’s escalation in the Green Zone forces him to end demonstrations in Parliament, but Iraq’s political impasse continues.
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Pro-Sadr Protests Exacerbate Risky Political Impasse in Iraq
Iraq’s Parliament, where a sit-in of Sadr supporters continues, has become the epicenter of the intra-Shia power struggle, perpetuating the country’s political crisis.
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Inscrutable Ambitions: Sadr’s Exit From Iraq’s Parliament Strengthens Rivals
Muqtada al-Sadr’s exit from Iraq’s political process seems to be a huge political miscalculation, but there is still a tough road ahead for government formation despite the change in the political map.
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Iraq's Anti-Normalization Law Could Prove a Risky Political Stunt
Iraq’s criminalization of relations with Israel may be domestic political maneuvering, but it could come at a heavy cost for several constituencies.
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Pressure Mounts to Form Iraqi Government
Iraq’s government formation drama might continue, but public pressure could force rival parties to reach a deal after Ramadan.
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Hard-Fought Iraqi Presidential Contest Signals Fraught Government Formation Ahead
The Iraqi presidency is effectively reserved for a Kurdish leader, but Salih and Zebari may point the country in very different directions.
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Baghdad's Deepening Reengagement With the Gulf: Hostage to Government Formation
Recent Iraqi governments have pushed for reintegration with the Arab world, but continuation of that trend depends on the next government.
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Can Restoration of Electricity Spark a New Era in Relations Between Baghdad and Riyadh?
The U.S. “maximum pressure” approach to contain Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the Middle East has played a key role in the Trump administration’s determination to help Iraq and Saudi Arabia mend ties.
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Why Did Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Go to Iraq?
Saudi Arabia’s national interests in Iraqi domestic politics, and their impact on regional dynamics, have never been that far from the surface.
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Iraqi-Iranian Maritime Exercises Send Message to Gulf Arab States
Overshadowed by the fall of Aleppo and terrorism in Europe, the stakes between Iran and the Gulf Arab countries in the strategic waters of the Gulf seem to have been significantly raised in recent days.
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Arab Gulf States Wary of Iran’s Role in the Battle for Mosul
As the battle to drive the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant out of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, is waged by Iraqi government troops, supported by an array of Kurdish, Shia, and Sunni forces, concerns about growing Iranian influence in Iraq are rising.