Topic: Muqtada al-Sadr

U.S. officials are calling for peace and dialogue amid reports of "disturbing" violence in Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday after Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced his withdrawal from political life.

The rocket attack on March 11 that killed a young Scottish medic -- Lance Cpl. Brodie Gillon -- and two Americans in Iraq has raised once more the specter of resurgent Iranian aggression in the region.

Protests broke out in the streets of Iraq Saturday after Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi was named Iraq's minister-designate.

Millions of Iraqi citizens gathered for a mass demonstration in the capital Baghdad on Friday to demand the withdrawal of all U.S. forces, which have now been in Iraq on some level for nearly 20 years.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday European soldiers in the Middle East could be in danger due to a dispute filed this week by Britain, France and Germany accusing Tehran of violating the 2015 nuclear deal.

Twice in the past week, the Iraqi parliament blocked the appointment of key ministerial posts by Iraq's new Prime Minister Dr. Adel Abdul Mahdi.

The Iraqi Supreme Court ruled Thursday for a manual recount of ballots from the parliamentary elections last month.

The leader of Iraq's leading parliamentary coalition announced an unexpected alliance with a pro-Iranian political bloc to form a new government.

Iraqi authorities arrested four people accused of setting fire to a warehouse containing half of Baghdad's ballot boxes from last month's election.

A fire at a warehouse in Iraq's capital has threatened boxes of ballots from last month's democratic elections, officials said.