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US sanctions on Russia could significantly damage the country’s arms industry, which exports about $15 billion of weapons a year, including for the Iraqi army which continues to battle an ISIS insurgency.
A US official told The National on condition of anonymity that Washington is looking for full implementation of the sanctions but could grant waivers to nations such as Iraq, in strict cases and based on “national security exceptions”.
Baghdad ordered more than $1bn of Russian tanks in 2017 and has been considering purchasing multibillion-dollar Russian anti-aircraft systems, including the S-300 and S-400. Many of Iraq’s existing armoured vehicles are made in Russia.
Sanctions imposed on Russian arms manufacturers have grown tougher over the years.
A round of sanctions hit manufacturers including Kalashnikov after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, while a 2017 law known as Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions (CAATSA) put companies dealing with Russian companies in danger of being subjected to so-called secondary sanctions.
A US president can waive the measures for key allies, however, which appears to have been done for Egypt and India.
Washington placed sanctions on several Turkish defence officials under CAATSA in 2020, after Ankara purchased the Russian S-400 system.
After the Ukraine invasion, dealing with Russian defence companies is fraught with risk, US State Department official Donald Lu recently told a Senate Foreign Relations panel.
Exemptions would need approval from US President Joe Biden but only after making the case that these countries are trying to phase out Russian arms imports in the long run.
Bilal Wahab, a senior scholar who studies Iraq at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Baghdad is attempting to balance different interests with its reaction to the war.
“Iraq has abstained from condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the UNGA. That is a factor of Iranian influence on one hand and keeping the door open for ties with Russia,m especially as Iraqis feel the US is becoming increasingly aloof,” Mr Wahab told The National.
He said Russian defence co-operation was still necessary for the Iraqi government in the absence of US alternatives.
“The Iranian missile attacks on Erbil should focus Iraq's need for developing its own missile and air defence systems. With US Patriot missile systems in short supply and needed urgently in Europe, Baghdad could rekindle discussions it had with Moscow over the purchase of the Russian S-300 system,” he said.
Iraq has floated the idea of purchasing the S-300 and the more advanced S-400 system since 2018.
Hakim Al Zamili, a former militia commander loyal to Moqtada Al Sadr, whose party holds the majority of seats in Iraq’s Parliament, told Russia’s Tass news agency that the S-400 could “stop Iraq from becoming an open arena for realisation of US plans”.
Al Zamili was formerly head of the parliamentary security and defence committee and is now deputy speaker.
This month, Iraqi-Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that the Central Bank of Iraq had suggested the Iraqi government holds off signing contracts with Russia “to protect the Iraqi financial system” from western sanctions.
US arming Iraq
The US has provided Iraq with tens of billions of dollars of military equipment since 2003, an issue that made headlines when ISIS seized hundreds of Humvees and artillery pieces as they took Mosul in 2014.
While some equipment was donated, much has been purchased, notably 36 F-16 fighter jets, in deals worth at least $4.3bn with continuing maintenance contracts. The US also gave Iraq a $3bn credit line to buy US weapons during the war on ISIS.
Big-ticket items supplied to Baghdad include about 140 M1A1 Abrams tanks, an older model of what analysts regard as one of the best tanks in the world.
The US donated about 250 Mine Resistant Armoured Personnel Carriers (MRAPs) at the height of the war against ISIS, a small number of replacement M1A1 tanks and tens of thousands of small arms, including 10,000 M16 assault rifles in a single donation in 2015.
Some experts say that Iraqis prefer Russian equipment, which made up the bulk of the Iraqi army’s gear during Saddam Hussein’s rule, as well as post-2003.
US equipment is considered high maintenance and prone to breakdown without specially trained mechanics. At the height of the war with ISIS, amid an oil price collapse, Iraq borrowed $2.7bn solely to maintain high-end US weapons.
In lieu of more complex US systems, Iraq has increased purchases of Russian tanks including the T-90S made by Uralvagonzavod. Iraq already has a fleet of 73 T-90Ss and is building a new brigade of the vehicles.
Iraq has also placed large orders for the BMP-3 infantry carrier made by Kurganmashzavod.
Uralvagonzavod was sanctioned by the US after the Crimea annexation, as Kurganmashzavod was in March. Both companies could struggle to obtain vital foreign-made components for their vehicles.
Iraqi army’s plan B
Iraqi military leaders have plans to avoid repercussions, a senior Defence Ministry official told The National.
“Our sources for arms are widely varied as we have different agreements, understandings and good relations and co-operation with many countries in this regard,” the official said. “Besides the US, our weapons are coming from some European countries including Ukraine, China, South Korea and others.
“We can rely on other countries, mainly the Eastern European ones, who still produce Russian arms and even spare parts."
Iraq has begun talks with countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and France to boost security co-operation but they are still at early stages, he said.
The country is working on expanding its own military industry, revived after 2014 with production lines for ammunition.
“There’s still a long way to go but it can meet some of our needs now and can be expanded with further co-operation with other countries,” the official said.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
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Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
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- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
