Muhammad al-Sudani is the prime minister of Iraq, having taken office in October 2022. He has presided over a construction boom in Baghdad, building 20 new bridges and overpasses, opening at least four hospitals (including Iraq's first dedicated cancer centre) and building or rebuilding over 1,700 schools. He often behaves less like a politician and more like a foreman, ringing up managers and making unannounced visits to building sites.
Al-Sudani has digitised many government services. The passport office in Baghdad issues new travel documents within 45 minutes. Government salaries are no longer paid in cash; payments for public services require a bank card. Annual customs income, which had never exceeded 900bn Iraqi dinars ($690m) before 2023, is expected to exceed 3trn dinars in 2025.
Al-Sudani has avoided direct confrontation with the Iranian-backed militias that dominate much of Iraq's politics and economy, preferring to channel them into business. "I want them to invest. I want them to get busy with prosperity. I want to divert them from violence," he has said. Many have formed companies and bid for government contracts. Yet the militias remain powerful enough to act with impunity when their interests are threatened: in July 2025 fighters from Kataib Hizbullah raided the ministry of agriculture to protect a director facing dismissal. Al-Sudani has been unable to rescue Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher kidnapped in Baghdad by Kataib Hizbullah in 2023.
Al-Sudani is one of the few Arab leaders yet to welcome Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's interim president, whose jihadist past in Iraq makes him deeply distrusted. Al-Sudani has overseen ambitious plans for construction and infrastructure while trying to convince the militias to get rich by doing business instead of fighting, but al-Sharaa's rise has prompted a rethink among some of the militias, who see a chance to recast their domestic legitimacy as protectors against Sunni militants.
Elections are due in November 2025—the sixth since the American invasion of 2003. Al-Sudani wants a second term, but many in the Shia Co-ordination Framework, an umbrella group for Iran-backed factions, see him as a threat to their interests. Qais al-Khazali, who heads Asaib Ahl al-Haq, is a kingmaker whose support is likely essential for whoever becomes prime minister. In the past few years under al-Sudani Iraq has enjoyed a remarkable period of calm and economic growth, keeping out of the turmoil that has shaken the region.
A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.