in 2020 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. 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. After nearly six months of political negotiations, Iraq's
parliament confirmed al-Kadhimi as
Prime Minister of Iraq on 6 May 2020. 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. He assumed office on the heels of major upheavals in Iraq – large protests, falling oil prices, and the
COVID-19 pandemic. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The summit, described by international observers as a significant diplomatic step, underscored Iraq's emerging role as a regional mediator. 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.
Criticism 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.
Accusation for the deaths of Soleimani and al-Muhandis 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. On 25 June 2020, Iraqi security forces raided KH base in
Dora, southern
Baghdad and detained at least 14 militia members.
Attempted assassination 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. 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. The assassination attempt came during high tension period after pro-Iranian parties lost seats in the
2021 Iraqi parliamentary election. ==Post-premiership==