Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi is preparing a broad reshuffle that could affect more than 100 senior officials across state institutions, with changes expected to include deputy ministers, agency heads, directors-general, and senior security officials.

Sources familiar with the matter told Shafaq News that a team appointed by Al-Zaidi is conducting a “comprehensive review” of government institutions, assessing the performance of senior officials and evaluating several administrative files. The review also examines the political and organizational affiliations of some officials, amid discussions about removing figures found to have neglected their duties or maintained links to armed factions.

Al-Zaidi has already introduced changes in key security and economic institutions, including the Iraqi National Security Service and the Central Bank (CBI). The planned reshuffle comes as the prime minister works to complete his cabinet formation and ahead of his expected visit to Washington, where he is due to meet US President Donald Trump.

Political sources told Shafaq News that US envoy Tom Barrack discussed a range of issues with Al-Zaidi during his recent visit to Baghdad, including the management of sovereign institutions and efforts to strengthen the independence of government decision-making.

According to the sources, the discussions coincided with the decision to abolish the posts of deputy prime ministers and shelve plans for a proposed Federal Security Ministry that would have brought together several security formations, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a predominantly Shiite umbrella formation integrated into Iraq’s state security structure in 2016, and armed groups.

Negotiations within the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework over the security ministries and other disputed portfolios remain ongoing, with Al-Zaidi seeking to appoint “technocratic figures,” according to the sources.

The Framework meeting has been postponed until after the tenth day of Muharram*, as political parties await further clarity on the cabinet lineup and the scope of the expected changes.

*The first month of the Islamic lunar year. For many Muslims, particularly Shiite communities in Iraq, it commemorates the martyrdom of the third Imam Hussein ibn Ali, Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, at the Battle of Karbala.

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