Iraq’s bounty risks bitter taste

After US-led mission helped to largely banish Islamic State from Iraq in 2018, the country has fast become a battleground for power in the region

Growing oil production should be a major win for oil-weary Iraq. But the country's increasingly lucrative share of global crude output has served to sharpen the appetites of Iran, the US, and other Middle Eastern neighbours to keep or extend a foothold in Iraq, seeing potential both for further oil production increments and strategic importance in a territory that has long borders with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey. Iraq has long been in an uncomfortable position straddling the diplomatic divide between the US and Iran. With tensions at their highest in years, how Iraq’s position stuck between the two opposing powers plays out in the coming months could have an impact even beyond its