22OCT

Al-Zaidi gives Tehran a seat at the inquiry

2 min read

17:22UTC

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 →Maysan →Tehran →Saudi Arabia →Ukraine →Strait of Hormuz →

First Reported In

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

Al Jazeera· 13 Sept 2026

Read original →

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

Wang Yi

China's foreign minister and Djibouti's issued a joint communique on 21 October saying the war should not reach the Horn of Africa and stressing free navigation through Bab al-Mandeb. The text names neither Iran nor the Houthis, and Djibouti hosts China's only overseas military base, opposite the Yemeni coast.

Ministry of External Affairs

India's foreign ministry called the attacks on Saudi civilian and energy sites "unacceptable" on 22 October and said they must stop at once. An Indian died at Dammam, Indians were injured there and at Shaybah, and about 4,000 Umrah pilgrims remain stranded by one MP's count.

Iraq

Iraq closed the al-Sheeb crossing with Iran to travellers and trucks from 21 October and said other crossings would close gradually. Unlike September's closure, which ended on a staged timetable, this one has none, and Iran's interior ministry said it received no notice.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Egypt's president said on 21 October that Cairo's support would "defend Saudi territory, and does not include an attack on Yemen". Araghchi warned that Egyptian involvement would further complicate the situation, and Cairo's limit matches the one Ankara set on 8 October against attacking another state's soil.

UK Ministry of Defence

The MoD said on 20 October that RAF Typhoons over Saudi Arabia will not strike the Houthis, but extended tanker support to Saudi operations including against Houthi targets in Yemen. The tanker line sets no limit on strikes, so British aircraft may now refuel Saudi jets on bombing runs.

Turkey

Ankara sent the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament around 20 October, and its published text treats an attack on one party as an attack on all. Article 16 brings it into force only on the last ratification, so the 5 October invocation in Riyadh could not yet bind Turkey.

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