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Iran’s Weakening Will Not Harm Iraq, Deputy Parliament Speaker Says
Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
Iraq will not be negatively affected by the weakening of Iran’s influence in the Middle East, Iraq’s deputy parliament speaker said, with Baghdad looking to chart its own diplomatic path in the region and limit the power of armed groups.
Mohsen al-Mandalawi spoke to Reuters in a recent interview after seismic shifts in the Middle East that have seen Iran’s armed allies in Gaza and Lebanon heavily degraded and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad overthrown by rebels.
US President Donald Trump’s new administration has promised to pile more pressure on Tehran, which has long backed a number of parties and an array of armed factions in Iraq.
Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is trying to avoid upsetting its fragile stability and focus on rebuilding after years of war.
“Today, we have stability. Foreign companies are coming to Iraq,” said Mandalawi, himself a businessman with interests in Iraqi hotels, hospitals and cash transfer services.
“Iraq has started to take on its natural role among Arab states. Iran is a neighbor with whom we have historical ties. Our geographical position and our relations with Arab states are separate matters,” he said, speaking at his office in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, home to government institutions and foreign embassies.
“I don’t think that the weakening of Iran will negatively impact Iraq.”
Mandalawi is a member of Iraq’s ruling Shi’ite Coordination Framework, a grouping of top politicians seen as having close ties with Iran, and heads the Asas coalition of lawmakers in parliament.
Iraq’s balancing act between Tehran and Washington has been tested by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups’ attacks on Israel and on US troops in the country after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023.
That has led to several rounds of tit-for-tat strikes that have since been contained.
During Trump’s first 2017-2021 presidency, ties were tense after the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in 2020, leading to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on US forces in Iraq.
In recent months, ahead of Trump taking office again, there have been growing calls in Iraq to limit the role of Iran-backed armed factions.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that Iraq was trying to persuade armed factions allied with Iran to lay down their arms.
Mandalawi said he believed such a move would take time but it was possible given a shift in focus on growing political and economic interests.
“Limiting arms to the state is important and I hope that it will be implemented,” he said.
The post Iran’s Weakening Will Not Harm Iraq, Deputy Parliament Speaker Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.