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Mustafa Al-Kadhimi

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Mustafa Al-Kadhimi
مصطفى الكاظمي
Al-Kadhimi in 2020
Prime Minister of Iraq
In office
7 May 2020 – 27 October 2022
PresidentBarham Salih
Abdul Latif Rashid
Preceded byAdil Abdul-Mahdi
Succeeded byMohammed Shia' Al Sudani
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Acting
12 May 2020 – 6 June 2020
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byMohamed Ali Alhakim
Succeeded byFuad Hussein
Director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service
In office
7 June 2016 – July 2022
Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi
Adil Abdul-Mahdi
Preceded byZuheir Fadel Abbas Ghirbawi
Succeeded byRaid Jouhi
Personal details
BornMustafa Abdul Latif Mishatat
(1967-07-05) 5 July 1967 (age 58)[1][2]
Baghdad, Iraq
Citizenship
PartyIndependent
Alma materAl Turath University College (LLB)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • diplomat
  • bureaucrat
  • journalist
  • documentalist
Signature
Websitet.me/mus_grob

Mustafa Abdul Latif Mishatat al-Gharibawi (Arabic: مصطفى عبد اللطيف مشتت, romanized: Muṣṭafá ʻAbd al-Laṭīf Mushattat; born 5 July 1967 in the Kadhimiya area of Baghdad),[1][2][3] known as Mustafa al-Kadhimi[a] is an independent Iraqi politician, lawyer, bureaucrat and former intelligence officer who served as the prime minister of Iraq from 7 May 2020 to 27 October 2022.[4] He was nominated as prime minister in May 2020 following the 2019 Iraqi protests and the resignation of Adel Abdul Mahdi.[5][6] He previously served as columnist for several news outlets and the Director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service,[7] originally appointed in June 2016.[8] He briefly served as Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs in an acting capacity in 2020. The latter part of his tenure closely followed the 2022 Iraqi political crisis. Following the conclusion of his term as prime minister in 2022, he spent over two years abroad, returning to Baghdad in February 2025.[9] During his time away, he resided in London and the United Arab Emirates. His return was at the invitation of current Iraqi political leaders who sought his assistance in addressing the country's economic challenges.[10][11]

Biography

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Al-Kadhimi was born in Baghdad in 1964 to Abdul Latif, who was born in Al-Shatrah, a town in southern Iraq, located northeast of Nasiriyah. He later migrated from Nasiriyah to Baghdad as a student. Around 1963, Abdul Latif relocated the family to Baghdad, where he later worked as a technical supervisor at Baghdad International Airport. He was also active in politics, representing the National Democratic Party in Shatrah.[12]

Al-Kadhimi was a vocal opponent of the regime of Saddam Hussein.[13] He left Iraq in 1985 and lived in exile in Iran then Germany, before settling in the United Kingdom, where he worked as a journalist human rights activist.[14] He eventually became a citizen of the UK.[2]

After the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq, al-Kadhimi returned to Iraq and cofounded the Iraqi Media Network. He then served as executive director of the Iraq Memory Foundation from 2003 to 2010, an organization dedicated to documenting the crimes of Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime.[2]

From 2010 to 2013, al-Kadhimi served as the editor-in-chief of Newsweek Iraq.[2] Between 2013 to 2016, he was a columnist and an editor of the Iraqi version of Al-Monitor[15][16] where he wrote extensively on Iraqi politics, governance reform, democracy, and human rights issues.[17] He has also published a number of books and studies.[13]

In 2012 al-Kadhimi achieved a Bachelors Degree in law from Al-Turath University in Baghdad.[18] He was responsible for reforming the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) to be more effective and to meet international standards. He oversaw ending the politicization of intelligence action, implementing advanced methods to intelligence gathering and analysis, and setting priorities to broaden the scope of the work of the National Intelligence Service.[19][20] Under his leadership, the agency expanded its remit, particularly in counter-terrorism, both internally and abroad, playing a vital role in Iraq's fight against ISIL, also known as Daesh.[21][22] During his tenure, he established links with scores of countries and bureaus working within the US-led federation against ISIL.[2] In October 2021, during al-Kadhimi's tenure, the INIS conducted what he described as a "complex external operation" that led to the capture of Sami Jasim al-Jaburi, identified by Iraqi and US authorities as a senior Islamic State figure in charge of the group's finances.[23]

In 2017, during a rare visit to Riyadh alongside Haider al-Abadi, al-Kadhimi was seen in a long embrace with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, drawing regional attention to the close rapport between the two men.[2]

Prime Minister of Iraq

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Al-Kadhimi with US President Donald Trump in 2020
Al-Kadhimi with US President Joe Biden in 2021

Following months of protests that broke out across Iraq in October 2019 and the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and his cabinet, Mustafa Al Kadhimi became a leading contender for the premiership.[24]

On 9 April 2020, he was named by President Barham Salih as prime minister-designate, the third person tapped to lead the country in just ten weeks. Kadhimi was nominated, state television reported, shortly after the previously designated prime minister, Adnan al-Zurfi, announced he was withdrawing because he had failed to secure enough support to form a government.[25] After nearly six months of political negotiations, Iraq's parliament confirmed al-Kadhimi as Prime Minister of Iraq on 6 May 2020.[26] Before entering office, al-Kadhimi said his government would be a government that would find solutions to Iraq's many problems and not a crisis ridden government. Ahead of the parliamentary vote to approve his cabinet, al-Kadhimi stated that his would be a "solution-based, not a crisis government," and pledged to prevent Iraq from being used as a battleground by other countries.[2] On 31 July 2020, he announced that parliamentary elections would be held early, on 6 June 2021, describing the move as a response to demands from the protest movement that began in 2019; the United Nations welcomed the announcement as a step towards greater stability and democracy in Iraq.[2][27] He assumed office on the heels of major upheavals in Iraq – large protests, falling oil prices, and the COVID-19 pandemic.[28]

Upon assuming power, al-Kadhimi promised to guide Iraq through a serious financial crisis, saying the state treasury was “nearly empty” after years of waste and declining oil prices. Al-Kadhimi's cabinet vowed to reduce public spending and audit salaries granted to millions of Iraqis but retracted the plan after public criticism. In August 2020, he hired hundreds of unemployed Iraqis at the ministry of defense, but not enough to halt sit-ins outside other public sector offices demanding jobs. He had few allies in government and his parliament was heavily dominated by pro-Iran MPs who balked at his references to protester demands. He also struggled to fulfill his promise to bring the security forces to justice who were allegedly responsible for the deaths of nearly 600 protesters and activists since October 2019. In addition, al-Kadhimi pledged to investigate the recent murders of journalists and political activists that had increased in the past year, but no one had been brought to justice as of September 2020.[29]

In October 2020, Al-Kadhimi's cabinet approved an economic reform agenda known as the "White Paper", which identified over 200 reforms aimed at addressing Iraq's economic challenges.[30] Al-Kadhimi described the White Paper as a multi-year plan to address uncontrolled corruption and mismanagement, rebuild the Iraqi economy, and reduce Iraq's heavy dependence on oil revenues by diversifying sources of national income, with implementation proposed over a five-year period.[31]

During his premiership, al-Kadhimi also sought to restore Iraq's regional diplomatic role. Beginning in April 2021, he facilitated several rounds of talks in Baghdad between Saudi Arabia and Iran, contributing to efforts to reduce tensions between the two countries.[32][33] On 28 August 2021, Baghdad hosted the inaugural Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, attended by leaders and senior officials from Iraq's neighboring states along with French President Emmanuel Macron.[34][35] The summit, described by international observers as a significant diplomatic step, underscored Iraq's emerging role as a regional mediator.[32]

Al-Kadhimi with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, 21 July 2020
Al-Kadhimi with the leaders of United States, the GGC, Egypt and Jordan at the GCC+3 summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 16 July 2022

In July 2021, al-Kadhimi and U.S. President Joe Biden sealed an agreement to end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021.[36] Following his visit to the United States, Iraq reclaimed 17,000 archaeological artifacts returned by U.S. authorities and institutions, including items held by the Museum of the Bible and Cornell University. The repatriation occurred within a wider context of antiquities looting in Iraq, including extensive destruction and smuggling by ISIS between 2014 and 2017. Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nazim described the repatriation as "the largest return of antiquities to Iraq.[37][38]

Criticism

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Al-Kadhimi was criticized in failing to raise alarms when it was found that since September 2021, $2.5bn from the country's tax deposits were reported as missing, the allegations were made by the finance ministry under Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani.[39] Investigators believed that the money were distributed to politicians and used for bribes and hush-money.[39] Former Finance Minister Ali Allawi mentioned that "senior officials and corrupt businessmen siphon billions from the public purse".[39] The large volumes traded caused the dinar to fall and property prices in posh areas in Baghdad to rise.[39]

Accusation for the deaths of Soleimani and al-Muhandis

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Further information: Assassination of Qasem Soleimani

Iran and its allied Fatah Alliance heavily opposed al-Kadhimi's appointment. In April 2020, Kata'ib Hezbollah, a Shia-Iraqi militia with close links to Iran and ties to the Popular Mobilization Forces, published a statement that accused al-Kadhimi of being culpable for the deaths of its leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and charged him with working with the United States.[2] In the meantime, al-Kadhimi directed the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) to investigate rocket attacks against the Green Zone in Baghdad, and promised to confront the disobedient Iranian supported paramilitaries.[40]

Attempted assassination

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Further information: Attempted assassination of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and 2021 Baghdad clashes

In the early hours of 7 November 2021, al-Kadhimi survived an assassination attempt via explosive drone, two drones were shot down by the army while the last one targeted his residence in the heavily fortified Green Zone district of Baghdad. The assassination attempt was suspected by many to be Iran’s response to Al-Kadhimi for his crackdown on Iranian supported militias and his strict policy of removing foreign influence in Iraq.[41]

On 8 November, a pair of anonymous regional officials and some (also anonymous) militia sources told Reuters that Iranian-backed militias were behind the attack, such as Kata'ib Hezbollah or Asaib Ahl al-Haq, also alleging that the weapons used by the perpetrators were made in Iran.[42]

The assassination attempt came during high tension period after pro-Iranian parties lost seats in the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary election.[43]

Post-premiership

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In July 2022, Al-Kadhimi was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government. The medal, presented by the French ambassador to Iraq on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron, is France's highest order of merit and was granted in recognition of his role in strengthening bilateral relations. During this meeting, Al-Kadhimi noted the importance of bilateral cooperation between Iraq and France including areas such as economic development and security.[44]

After stepping down as prime minister, al-Kadhimi resided in London and the United Arab Emirates.[45] On 25 February 2025, Al-Kadhimi returned to Iraq after an extended period abroad which followed security concerns including an assassination attempt in 2021. He did not confirm whether he would run in future elections, stating that participation would depend on the transparency and credibility of the electoral process.[46][10][11]

Works

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Al-Kadhimi has authored several books:[47]

  • Ali Ibn Abi Talib: The Imam and the Man (1989)
  • Islamic Concerns (1995)
  • Humanitarian Concerns (2000) – selected by the European Union as the best book written by a political refugee
  • The Iraq Question: Reconciliation Between the Past and the Future (2012)

Notes

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  1. ^ alternatively spelt Mustafa al-Kadhimy

References

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  1. ^ a b "Is Mustafa Al-Kadhimi Sunni or Shiite?". Jannah News. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Who is Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq's new prime minister?". Al Jazeera. 7 May 2020.
  3. ^ Goran, Mustafa (5 May 2020). "Who is Iraqi PM-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi?". www.rudaw.net. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Mustafa al-Kadhimi sworn in as prime minister of Iraq". Rudaw. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Iraq appoints new prime minister after months of protests and jockeying". The Guardian. Reuters. 7 May 2020. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  6. ^ "New Iraq prime minister after five months of deadlock". BBC News. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  7. ^ "IMF". www.iraqmemory.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Impersonating U.S. Intelligence Official, Oregon Man Wrote to Iraqi Prime Minister". KDRV News. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  9. ^ "بشكل مفاجئ.. مصطفى الكاظمي عاد إلى العراق وطائرته هبطت في بغداد الآن". +964 (in Arabic). 25 February 2025. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Former Iraqi prime minister returns to Baghdad despite security threats". AP News. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Iraq's former PM Al-Kadhimi breaks silence on return". Shafaq News. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  12. ^ "مفاوض بارز ولاعب "ماكر".. من هو مصطفى الكاظمي؟". الجزيرة نت (in Arabic). Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  13. ^ a b "IMF". www.iraqmemory.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Who is Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq's new prime minister?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  15. ^ "Mustafa al-Kadhimi: Author". RealClearWorld. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Iraqi politicians focus on buying, not convincing voters". Jordan Vista. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Mustafa al-Kadhimi - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012". www.al-monitor.com. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  18. ^ Ibrahim, Arwa. "Could it be third time lucky in Iraq with new PM-designate?". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 8 July 2025. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  19. ^ "Iraqi man sentenced for illegally using US insignia". Star Tribune.
  20. ^ "Iraq Gets a Government—and It Was Worth the Wait".
  21. ^ "Basnews". www.basnews.com.
  22. ^ Mamouri, Ali (3 December 2019). "Iraq on brink of abyss: What happens next?". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  23. ^ Salem, Aqeel Najim,Mostafa (11 October 2021). "ISIS finance chief captured by Iraqi forces, Iraq PM says". CNN. Retrieved 30 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "Iraqi spy chief Mustafa Al Kadhimi rumoured to be prime ministerial contender". The National (Abu Dhabi). 29 December 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  25. ^ "Iraq names its third prime minister in 10 weeks". Reuters. 9 April 2020. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  26. ^ Aldroubi, Mina (6 May 2020). "Iraqi Parliament confirms Mustafa Al Kadhimi as new Prime Minister". The National. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  27. ^ "Iraq prime minister calls early elections for June 2021". Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  28. ^ "Iraq hospitals fear 'losing control' as coronavirus cases surge". Al Jazeera. 5 September 2020.
  29. ^ "Challenges in Iraq mount a year after anti-gov't protests erupted. The prime minister is seen by many as having an close relationship with the west and Saudi Arabia while being heavily opposed by Iran and Iranian-supported militias". Al Jazeera. 30 September 2020.
  30. ^ "Iraq". United States Department of State. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  31. ^ "Al-Kadhimi: Starting to implement the economic reform plan » Iraqi News Agency". Iraqi News Agency. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  32. ^ a b "Iraq to Resume Mediation between Saudi Arabia, Iran ahead of Jeddah Summit". english.aawsat.com. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  33. ^ Kurdistan24 (28 August 2021). "Nine countries partake in Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership". Nine countries partake in Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership. Retrieved 6 November 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Xinhua (28 August 2021). "Baghdad conference agrees to boost cooperation for regional stability - Dailynewsegypt". Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  35. ^ "Statement on the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership" (PDF). 28 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2025.
  36. ^ "Biden, Kadhimi seal agreement to end U.S. combat mission in Iraq". Reuters. 27 July 2021.
  37. ^ "Iraq Reclaims 17,000 Looted Artifacts, Its Biggest-Ever Repatriation". The New York Times. 3 August 2021.
  38. ^ "US to return 17,000 looted ancient artefacts to Iraq". The Guardian. The Guardian. 3 August 2021. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  39. ^ a b c d "Iraq's new prime minister vows to clean up the country". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  40. ^ Marsin Alshamar (13 November 2020). "Six months into his premiership, what has Mustafa al-Kadhimi done for Iraq?". brookings.edu.
  41. ^ Davison, John; Rasheed, Ahmed (7 November 2021). "Iraqi PM safe after drone attack on residence, military says". Reuters. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  42. ^ "Iran-backed militia staged drone attack on Iraqi PM - officials". Reuters. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  43. ^ "Iraqi PM al-Kadhimi survives drone attack on his home". BBC News. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  44. ^ "مكتبه: الكاظمي تسلم أعلى وسام شرف من الرئيس الفرنسي". الترا عراق | Ultra Iraq (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 26 February 2025. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  45. ^ "Former Iraqi prime minister returns to Baghdad despite security threats". AP News. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  46. ^ "مصطفى الكاظمي لـ"المجلة": لهذه الأسباب عدت إلى العراق... وهكذا أرى النظام العالمي الجديد". www.majalla.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  47. ^ "Mustafa Al-Kadhimi: A Man of Balance and A Skilled Negotiating Expert in Iraq". en.majalla.com. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
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