18JUL

Al-Zaidi gives Tehran a seat at the inquiry

2 min read

13:17UTC

Ali al-Zaidi approved an Iranian request for a joint Iraq-Iran investigation into the platforms used to launch the drones that struck the Saudi pipeline.

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ConflictDeveloping

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi approved an Iranian request for a joint Iraq-Iran investigation into the platforms used to launch the drones that struck Saudi Arabia's export pipeline, on Saturday 12 September 2026⁠¹. The approval followed his dismissal of two Maysan security chiefs over the same launches⁠².

A joint inquiry commits neither government to a finding, sets no timetable on its own, and gives each side sight of what the other collects. Iran asked for the access and Baghdad granted it, which places Tehran inside the examination of an attack launched from Iraqi territory towards a third country.

The two capitals already run errands for each other. Iraq's parliament speaker asked Iran's Majlis speaker on 19 August for special consideration for Iraqi oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, a favour requested in the opposite direction weeks earlier. Baghdad is now paying in procedure for an attack it says came from its own ground, and the investigative council it created keeps running in parallel.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

After drones launched from Iraq hit a Saudi oil pipeline, Iraq began investigating who fired them and from where. Iran asked to take part in examining the launch platforms, and Iraq's prime minister said yes. That means Iranian investigators get to see the physical evidence from an attack that was fired at Saudi Arabia from Iraqi ground. Iran does not come to this as a neutral party. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran-linked groups of running this kind of campaign, so letting Iranian investigators near the hardware is a decision with consequences for what the inquiry can eventually say.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Iraq needs a finding fast enough to satisfy Riyadh and survivable enough to keep Tehran cooperating, and no single inquiry does both cleanly.

A joint investigation costs Baghdad least of the instruments available. It commits neither government to a conclusion, sets no timetable on its own, and gives each side sight of what the other collects.

Baghdad also has less to concede than it looks. The special investigative council it appointed on 12 September runs in parallel and answers to the prime minister alone, so approving Iranian access adds a channel rather than replacing the Iraqi one.

Escalation

Sideways. The approval keeps Tehran inside the process rather than outside objecting to it, and the point that would tip it is the first published finding from either the joint examination or the Iraqi council.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Iranian investigators gain access to hardware that could identify the makers and operators of the launch platforms.
Immediate · Reported
Risk
A joint finding that names nobody would leave Riyadh with an Iraqi answer that Tehran co-signed, which is weaker than either government producing one alone.
Short term · Assessed
Precedent
Iraq has established that a state implicated in an attack from its territory can be seated at the inquiry into it.
Long term · Suggested

Source Landscape

This story draws on centre-left-leaning sources from Qatar

Qatar

Primary parallel: Iran led the technical investigation into the shoot-down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 near Tehran on 8 January 2020, having fired the missiles itself, and held the flight recorders for months before they were read abroad. The party with the strongest interest in the finding controlled the evidence.

Counter-parallel: The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team took the opposite course after MH17 was shot down over Ukraine on 17 July 2014. Russia was implicated and kept off the investigating team, and the inquiry named suspects in 2019. Baghdad has chosen the first design rather than the second.

Consensus view: Baghdad's account, carried by the Iraqi News Agency, has al-Zaidi granting an Iranian request for a joint examination of the launch platforms, the same day he sacked two Maysan security chiefs.

Counter-view: Riyadh has tied its own restraint to Baghdad stopping further attacks, and the party Iraq has now seated at the examination is the state whose Revolutionary Guard was named in the Saudi assessment of 6 August as coordinating this campaign.

Key tension: Whether shared access to the platforms speeds an Iraqi finding or fixes what that finding can say, which the approval itself does not determine.

Sources:Al Jazeera

Mentions:Ali al-Zaidi →Iran →Iraq →Al Jazeera →Russia →Baghdad →Riyadh →Majlis →Tehran →Saudi Arabia →Ukraine →Strait of Hormuz →

First Reported In

Update #178 · Saudi bypass hit, and Riyadh holds fire

Al Jazeera· 13 Sept 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Baghdad sacks two Maysan chiefs over the launches

The joint Iraq-Iran inquiry followed the dismissals and the Iranian request.

Occurred 12 Sept 2026

Read story →

This Event

Al-Zaidi gives Tehran a seat at the inquiry

Iran gains a formal role in examining an attack fired from Iraqi soil, alongside the Iraqi council already investigating it.

Different Perspectives

International Energy Agency

G7 members agreed on 2 October to release up to 100 million barrels through the IEA over four months, front-loading diesel.

China

China signed the 15 October text reaffirming the Resolution 2216 arms embargo on the Houthis. The Wall Street Journal reported that Conflict Armament Research found Chinese parts in a Houthi copy of Iran's Kheibarshekan missile.

Russia

Russia joined the 15 October consensus condemning the Houthis, a month after vetoing a mandate for a UN panel of experts on Iran sanctions on 17 September. One Western official told Bloomberg that Moscow is providing Iran with missiles, and the White House rejected the assessment.

India

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval raised seafarer safety with Mohsen Rezaei on 12 October, after a drone hit the Petro Dolphin with 11 Indians aboard at Sohar. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar urged that attacks on commercial shipping and seafarers be avoided.

Lebanon

President Joseph Aoun met UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut on 14 October as UNIFIL winds down before its mandate ends on 31 December. Two days later Qatar's prime minister pledged in Beirut to fund a solar plant for Lebanon.

Kataib Hezbollah

The militia announced a halt to operations except against "hostile aircraft" and denied any disarmament deal with Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. A day later Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani urged eliminating "remaining traces of the US presence in other arenas".

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.