Iraqi government spokesperson says Baghdad had no prior knowledge of the strikes on Iraqi territory

Haidar al-Aboudi, spokesperson for the Iraqi government, said on Thursday, 30 July 2026 (8 Mordad 1405) that the government had no prior knowledge of the strikes carried out on Iraqi territory.

The statement responded to a claim by US President Donald Trump that the US and Saudi strike on resistance force positions in Iraq had been "carried out in coordination with the Baghdad government". The United States and Saudi Arabia jointly struck Hashd al-Shaabi positions in several Iraqi cities in the early hours of Wednesday, 29 July.

Iraq is Iran's largest non oil export market and one of the main channels for Iranian financial and foreign currency transactions. The widening of hostilities onto Iraqi soil, and the conflicting accounts from Washington and Baghdad, bear on the risk attached to cross border trade, pilgrim traffic and the Central Bank of Iraq's dollar auction mechanism.