Iraq as part of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) |200x200px The
Abbasid Revolution against the
Umayyad Caliphate adopted black for its for which their partisans were called the s. Their rivals chose other colours in reaction; among these, forces loyal to
Marwan II adopted red. The choice of black as the colour of the Abbasid Revolution was already motivated by the "black standards out of Khorasan" tradition associated with the
Mahdi. The contrast of white vs. black as the Fatimid vs. Abbasid dynastic colour over time developed in white as the colour of Shia Islam and black as the colour of Sunni Islam. After the revolution, Islamic apocalyptic circles admitted that the Abbasid banners would be black but asserted that the Mahdi's standard would be black and larger.
Kingdom of Iraq (1921–1958) The first flag of modern Iraq was in
Mandatory Iraq, and was adopted in 1921. It was a
black-
white-
green horizontal flag, with a red triangle extending from the mast side, inspired by the
flag of the Arab Revolt. It was soon changed to a new version with a red
trapezoid replacing the triangle containing two, seven-point white stars denoting the
Tigris River and the
Euphrates River. Both designs also reflected the newly installed
Hashemite dynasty in Iraq (originally from the
Hejaz in the
Arabian Peninsula), who had played a leading role in the
Arab Revolt. As such, it was similar to the flags of Hashemite
Transjordan, and the short-lived
Kingdom of Hejaz. The new flag continued to be used in the
Kingdom of Iraq.
Iraq as part of the Arab Federation (1958) In 1958, in response to the merger of
Egypt and
Syria in the
United Arab Republic, the two Hashemite kingdoms of
Iraq and
Jordan established the
Arab Federation, a confederation of the two states. The flag of the union was essentially that of
Jordan but without seven pointed star in the red chevron. This flag is identical to the
flag of Palestine adopted in 1964, and almost identical to the flag of the
Ba'ath Party. The union lasted less than six months, being terminated by the
Iraqi Revolution of 1958 in July.
Qasimist Iraq (1959–1963) , with one of the soldiers in the stamp holding the Qasimist Iraqi flag. Following the
Revolution of 14 July 1958, led by
Abd al-Karim Qasim, which abolished the
Hashemite monarchy in Iraq and turned the country into a
republic,
Iraq adopted a new flag (Law 102 of 1959) that consisted of a
black-
white-
green vertical tricolour, with a red eight-pointed star with a yellow circle at its centre. The black, white, green, and red are the
Pan-Arab colors, representing
pan-Arabism, with the yellow
Kurdish Sun in the middle to represent the
Iraqi Kurds, surrounded by the red
Star of Ishtar to represent the indigenous
Assyrians. After the fall of the Ba'athist regime in 2003, the 1959 design was considered for readoption. However, it was rejected by Iraqis who associated it with Abd al-Karim Qasim’s radicalism and objected to the vertical layout, which departed from the horizontal tricolour format standard in the Arab world. The 1959 flag was relegalized and flown in the Kurdistan Region following the 2003 invasion. Some Kurdish leadership preferred it as a national symbol because it was the only flag to acknowledge their identity. It remained in limited unofficial use until 2008, when the Iraqi parliament removed the three stars (commonly associated with the Ba'ath and Nasserist leadership among Kurdish Iraqis) from the national flag, leading the Kurdistan Regional Government to adopt the revised federal banner.
Ba'athist Iraq (1963–2004) After the 1963
Ramadan Revolution led to the overthrow of
Qasim, the new government adopted a new national flag to represent the
Nasserist ideology endorsed by President
Abdul Salam Arif, officially replacing the flag adopted by Qasim on July 31 of 1963 with Law 28 of 1963. The Three-star flag is believed to have been originally designed and proposed by
Jawad Saleem, a Turkish-born artist with origins in
Mosul who also designed and sculpted the
Freedom Monument in Baghdad, originally as a tribute to Qasim's revolution. The horizontal red, white, and black tricolour was based on the
United Arab Republic (UAR) flag, and featured three green stars symbolizing a desire to join a reunited Egypt and Syria. Saleem died in 1961 before its official adoption. In a move symbolising support for a reformed UAR,
Ba'athist Syria also adopted this flag as its national flag with slightly different proportions until 1971, when it replaced the stars with the
Hawk of Quraish due to its membership in the
Federation of Arab Republics. During
his rule,
Saddam Hussein made two significant changes to the 1963 flag. First, he reinterpreted the three stars in the Flag Law No. 33 of 1986 to represent the Ba'ath Party's motto
Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya ("unity, freedom, and socialism"). Second, in 1991, amid the
Gulf War and as a prelude to the
Faith Campaign, he added the
takbīr ("Allahu akbar") between the stars to gain religious support and emphasize Iraq's Islamic identity, moving away from the Ba'ath Party's traditional secular stance. The
hamza over the
alif of “
Allah” in the main variant seems to be a spelling error according to formal
Arabic grammar, but it is a common mistake found in many texts. Despite this, the original 1963 flag without the takbīr remained legal and remained in co-official use until 2004, most commonly as a
civil ensign or in places where a less religiously sensitive flag was needed, this contrasts the flag's use after 2012 as a symbol of Sunni Arab ethnic and religious affiliation. Following the
2003 invasion of Iraq, the three-star flag was used as a symbol of the
Iraqi Insurgency with rebel groups even without direct Sunni identity or ideology such as the Sufi-led
Naqshbandi Army and Shia
Mahdi Army using versions of the flag as a shared symbol. The 1963 flag reemerged during the
2012–2013 Iraqi protests, adopted by many Sunni Arabs as the distinctive ethnic flag to represent Iraqi Sunni Arabs as a whole and a reference to a time when Iraq was dominated by Sunni leadership and perceived as more favorable and secure for Sunnis. Its meaning shifted from a former national flag to one associated with Sunni Arab identity and political expression. Shias and other minority groups in Iraq today generally do not identify with the flag, viewing it primarily as a symbol of Sunni Arab identity and Ba'athist political legacy rather than a unifying national emblem, despite originally being an inherently non-sectarian symbol with Nasserist origins.
2004–2008 during the Iraq War (2007) script (ratio: 2:3) to represent Iraq after the invasion in 2006 Owing to differing views on
a flag proposed by the United States-appointed administration, and the prevailing opposition to an outright abandonment of the current Iraqi flag, a compromise measure was adopted by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi interim administration in 2004. The basic form of the existing
flag was retained; however, the
takbīr was rendered in traditional stylized
Kufic script, as opposed to the handwriting of
Saddam Hussein. The modified flag was unveiled at the ceremony marking the technical "handover" of power from the
Coalition Provisional Authority occupation forces to the U.S.-appointed administration on 28 July 2004. Although the 2004 version of the Iraqi flag was introduced as a transitional design intended to reduce overt associations with Saddam Hussein's regime, the current Government of Iraq continues to regard all iterations of the three star flag featuring the takbir between the stars as symbols linked to Ba'athist rule. In March 2025, police in Baghdad arrested a resident of the Sumer district after he raised the 2004 flag over his home, reportedly citing it as an expression of allegiance to the former regime.
2008–present in
Erbil (2011) On 22 January 2008, The
parliament intended for the new design to last one year, after which a final decision on the flag would be made. However, the flag law was reviewed in parliament on 30 August 2009. == Symbolism ==