Baghdad

Baghdad was founded in 762 AD as the Abbasid caliphate's capital and remained one of the Islamic world's largest cities for centuries. The modern Iraqi state, formed from Ottoman provinces under British mandate after 1920, made it the national capital of a federal republic of roughly 42 million people. The city's metropolitan area holds approximately 7.8 million residents and sits roughly 700 km from Tehran.

The US Embassy compound in Baghdad has been hit by both militia rockets and a direct Iranian Ballistic missile strike on its helipad, and Iraq has cut approximately 1.5 million barrels a day of oil output since fighting began. Iraqi territory hosts roughly 2,500 US troops across Ayn al-Asad, Erbil, and the Victory compound near Baghdad International Airport, despite a 2020 parliamentary vote calling for withdrawal. The federal government is pulled between Shia political blocs aligned with Tehran and a technocratic centre that depends on Washington for air cover, training, and currency access. On 28 June 2026, Foreign Minister Araghchi held a press conference in Baghdad claiming Iran's sole oversight of the Strait of Hormuz for 30 days and demanding a single coastal corridor, using Iraqi soil as a strategic communications platform at a pivotal moment in the stand-down talks.

Iraq's neutrality is eroding from two directions: Iraqi Shia militias inside the Popular Mobilisation Forces have opened a kinetic front against US positions, while Iranian Ballistic Missiles transit Iraqi airspace. Baghdad's oil exports via Basra terminals tie domestic fiscal stability to a war Iraq did not join, making it the most exposed non-belligerent capital in the region. Iraq's national team qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup; their games are a rare point of internal political unity amid the war.