As U.S.-Iran Conflict Builds Across Mideast, Iraq Is Caught in Middle

When Iraq’s prime minister traveled to Washington in the spring, he hoped to negotiate a much-needed economic development package and discuss shared strategic interests with the United States, one of his country’s most important international allies.

But the very day he arrived in mid-April, events unfolding at home served as a stark reminder of the competing influences that the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, is caught between: Iran was sending drones and missiles to attack Israel and