Iran’s Strategic Shift to Iraq and the Crisis for Religious Minorities

Iran poses an existential threat to Iraq’s sovereignty and the survival of Christians and other religious minorities in the region. Decades of war, unrest and widespread persecution have devastated Iraqi Christian communities, now comprising just 1% of Iraq’s total population. This crisis is perpetuated by the Iranian regime’s Axis of Resistance and its increasingly potent influence over the Iraqi government. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, Tehran has pursued a deliberate, multifaceted campaign to infiltrate Iraq’s political landscape, often at the expense of Iraq’s religious minorities. Recent developments, specifically the Trump Administration’s June 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, have left the regime weakened and increasingly focused on Iraq as one of its last footholds in the region.