Mahmoud Hayani, a member of the Fatah coalition, said that if the 220 votes are not collected for the voting of a president into office, the interim government can't continue its duties while all constitutional deadlines have passed, and that opens the possibility of dissolving the Iraqi council of representatives. 

The member of the Fatah coalition said the Shiite Coordination Framework is trying to resolve the issues and wants to return the situation to its normal and legal stage, especially since the house of representatives has proven that it cannot take responsibility or solve any problems.

Hamdani said the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad's remarks about the waste of water in Iraq is false, provoking public opinion and a threat to social peace, the Foreign Ministry should summon the Turkish ambassador and submit a memorandum of protest.

"Turkey is not the guardian of Iraq and should give Iraq its fair share of water without interfering in its water policy according to international treaties," he said.

According to the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Turkey's continued protests about the waste of water in Iraq is an attempt to mix the cards, to give itself the right to reduce the share of Iraqi water.

Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Ali Reza Gonay, in a series of tweets said that water is being wasted in Iraq, and serious measures must be taken in this regard, "solving the water crisis cannot be done through asking for more water, but through using it wisely, and we are ready to help."

Turkey has constructed many massive dams on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers that provide almost 100% of Iraq’s water needs. The dams have significantly reduced water following to Iraq and it has led to drying out many marshes.

Frequent dust storms, lack of precipitation, and successive drought has shown Iraqis the consequences of climate change.

"Water reserves from Iran have downed by 60 to 80 percent, while water from the Tigris River flowing from Turkey has decreased by 65 percent," the Ministry of Water Resources said.

"According to the figures drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture, groundwater can irrigate only one million dunams of arable land for the summer season," the ministry warned.

Turkey’s Southeastern Anatolia Project is one of the largest and most controversial dam-building programs globally. Twenty-two dams constructed along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers near Turkey’s borders with Syria and Iraq on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that supply almost 100 percent of Iraq’s water needs.

 

 

With rising temperatures and day after day, the effects of drought and reduced river and marsh water levels become more visible. The farmers and livestock owners are most vulnerable to drought and reduced water levels, mostly caused by lack of precipitation and building of dams by Iraq’s regional neighbors, such as Turkey and Iran, and lack of proper use of agricultural water.

Alaa Badran, a member of the Iraqi Committee for Restoring Marshes, told KurdSat, “The drought rate has reached 50% to 60%. And of course, if the current precipitation rate continues till the end of the year and regional neighbors continue to withhold waters, the situation becomes worse, it will affect livestock, birds, and fish resources. Turkish dams have caused serious damage to Iraqi marshes because of more than 40 billion cubic meters of water. Turkey stores water in dams, especially those built on the Euphrates River.

Drought and reduced water levels are visible in southern Iraq. Hundreds of dunams of arable land have entirely dried out.

Razaq Abdul Jabbar, a farmer and cattle owner in the southern Iraqi marshlands, said, “Marsh inhabitant are faced with danger more than ever. The salinity of the region’s water has increased. In some areas, the water depth has dropped to 40 centimeters, while previously it was not less than two meters. The water salinity sickens the cattle and reduces their milk produce. It has decreased, and the number of migratory birds and fish have decreased sharply.”

Reduced water levels have led to a complete drying out of the region’s streams. Inhabitants of the marshlands ask for immediate action and believe that the Iraqi government is too weak to convince neighboring countries to open their dams and revive the marshlands once again,

The Iraqi meteorological organization announced that the highest temperature is expected in Basra and Maysan provinces to reach 47 degrees Celsius, while the highest temperature in Erbil and Sulaimani will reach 41 degrees Celsius and Duhok 42 degrees Celsius.

"The temperature will rise further from Wednesday and light dust will cover the southern and central provinces and intensify on Friday in the southern provinces and visibility will be reduced to less than one kilometer in some areas,” the organization added.

In the Kurdistan region the highest temperature will be in Garmian at about 45 degrees Celsius. Light dust would cover southern Kirkuk and Garmian regions in the evening, according to the statement.

The Kurdistan region and Iraq have experienced unusual frequent dust storms and strange weather patterns since early 2022. Many Iraqi regions have declared draught and demand special funds to fight the effects of draught.

Currently, Iraq faces water and energy shortage as effects of climate change are clearly visible in the country.

 

The Iraqi Central Bank (CBI) has said it sees no reason to devalue the dollar and other currencies against the dinar and has no plans to do so in the next three to five years.

In April, the Iraqi Federal Court met for the third time on the issue, rejected a request to appreciate the dinar against the dollar, and dismissed the case.

The complaints against the finance minister and the central bank governor were also dismissed, and the court closed the case.

On December 12, 2020, the Iraqi central bank devalued the Iraqi dinar amidst a financial crisis, and low oil prices gripped the country. The bank devalued the dinar against the dollar to stabilize the currency. 

It set the exchange at 1,450 dinars per dollar to the Finance Ministry and 1,460 to public banks. Previously it was exchanged at 1,220 dinars per dollar. 

In a statement, Saraya Salam called on its members to be fully alert to deal with any contingency. The statement did not explain the reasons for the request.

Earlier, Sadr Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr had set November 15 for mass prayers in Baghdad's Medina.

He said several personalities would supervise the prayer, including the former deputy speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Hakim Zamli.

On June 12, Iraqi PMs from Sadr's bloc resigned, and the speaker of the Parliament soon accepted their resignation. Sadr said that the move was to break the deadlock on the negotiations for forming the next Iraqi government. After almost a month, Sadr is again mobilizing the streets to his political ends.

Saraya al-Salam, previously known as the al-Mahdi Army, is a Shia faction under the umbrella of the Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization forces founded by Sadr in 2003. They numbered between 10,000 and 50,000, according to independent claims. 

Independent MP Ali Saadi said that due to the continued conflict between the political parties, the lack of clarity, the deadlock in negotiations to form the next cabinet, and the lack of any forward, all independent MPs agree to resign to solve.

Meanwhile, Hassan Bahadli, leader of the Nasr coalition, said the rumours that the Shiite coordination framework had nominated Qusai Suhail and Baha al-Araaji for the position of the prime minister are untrue and unfounded.

On June 19, the National Wisdom Movement, led by Ammar al-Hakim, announced that although after Sadrists withdrew from the Parliament, their seats in the assembly had increased from 4 to 16, making them active members of the Coordination Framework, they would not participate in the next government. 

On June 12, the Sadrist bloc in the Iraqi council of representatives resigned to pave the way for the other parties to form the next government, the bloc claimed. 

It has sparked a chain reaction, with many others parties revealing their intention that they might resign from the assembly as well. 

The United Nations' food agency said the decline in water levels in Qurna in the Fawi district of Basra province had destroyed 60,000 acres of agricultural land and 30,000 trees, reducing date production in Iraq.

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq was previously the world's largest exporter of date but now ranks seventh worldwide.

Since 2021, frequent dust storms have been covering Iraq's skies for days, and scientists warn of the desertification of more lands in Iraq. The recent storms have also stalled the Green Belt Project, and the belt is Iraq's last hope to stop desertification.

A United Nations report suggests that the 2020-2021 rainfall season was the second driest in the last 40 years, causing a reduction of water flow in Tigris and Euphrates by 29% and 73%, respectively. 

Dams created by Turkey on the Euphrates and Tigers river that provide most water to Iraq have drastically reduced the mount of water reaching Iraqi lands.  

The Director-General of the Technical Department of the Iraqi Ministry of Environment warned of the increase in sandstorms, especially after the number of dusty days increased to "272 days per year for a period of two decades." He predicted, "It will reach 300 dusty days a year in 2050."

After replacing the resigned Sadrist MPs, the door is open for the Coordination Framework to form a new government as soon as possible as they command the majority in the Iraqi council of representatives.

The Coordination framework has announced that it will hold talks with the political parties to form a new government in Iraq. Negotiations with the sunnies will not be complex, as the Sunnis have already won their share of power as the speaker of the Iraqi parliament is chaired by Muhammed Halbusi, but negotiations with the Kurds may be exhausting because of the differences between the KDP and the PUK.

Iraq has been facing a political stalemate for eight months, and there is a prospect of forming a government. Both Ammar Hakim and Haider al-Abadi say the formation of the government is not a challenge, but the real challenge is that a government without Sard would not be possible.

Sadr is closely monitoring the moves of the coordination framework and warned the coordination framework in the event of the formation of the government wants to attract figures from his movement to participate in the government.

The Belarusian committee of inquiry said in a statement that it had provided evidence and information to an Iraqi delegation in Minsk, about the killing of a number of refugees by Polish troops, that include Iraqi refugees. They were buried on the Belarusian-Polish border, the statement noted. 

The Belarusian committee also briefed the Iraqi delegation on the “crimes” committed by Polish soldiers against 135 Iraqi refugees who were injured by violence.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Sahaf, said in a statement that the Iraqi parliament's foreign relations committee has asked the government to request an international investigation.

Last year over 5000 thousand Iraqi refugees were trapped at the Polish-Belarusian border, trying to cross to the European Union. The Kurdistan region government brought back some of the refugees, while a number of them stayed at refugee camps provided by the Belarusian government.

Iraqi Planning Ministry spokeswoman Abdul Zahra Handawi said in a statement that the ministry would announce a new policy for the population next month to regulate reproduction and help reproductive health.

"There is no such thing as limiting population growth, and the ministry has no such intentions," he confirmed.

According to figures from the Census Center of the Ministry of Planning, the population of Iraq is more than 42 million 500 thousand people, while it was only 24 million in 2003, an almost two-fold increase after the collapse of Saddam Hussein.

Iraq grapples with numerous challenges, notably food and water scarcity; Baghdad is concerned with feeding its rapidly growing population. 

Iraq globally ranks 38th in population growth and one of the highest in the Middle East and Eurasia. 

World Travel and Tourism Council announced that the majority of tourists visiting Iran are Iraqis, followed by Pakistanis and Kuwaitis.

Iraqi citizens account for 34 percent of Iran's annual tourist arrivals, Fars News Agency reported.

According to the agency, Iran's tourism revenue has increased by 40 percent, after a sharp decline in the number of tourists, and revenue due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Last year, Iran's tourism sector earned $2.5 billion, and employment increased by more than 5 percent.

On June 13, Iran and Iraq signed a tourism deal aimed at boosting tourism between the two countries. Iran and Iraq share close cultural and linguistic ties. Kurds found one both sides of the long Iran Iraq border frequently visit relatives and maintain close ties to their kins.