Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the United Nations has recently upgraded the country’s security status, placing it among those considered stable.

At a press conference, Abbas Al-Bahadli, the ministry’s spokesperson, explained that Iraq was removed from the “gray list,” elevating its classification from Category E —reserved for very high-risk environments with strict operational limits— to Category B, which signals a relatively low-risk environment.

Over the past three years, authorities have apprehended 16,214 suspects in health-related crimes, 12,742 in smuggling, 3,552 in commercial fraud, 3,523 in price inflation, 2,941 in financial crimes, 2,447 in illegal employment of foreign labor, and 1,781 in drug smuggling.

Authorities also pursued economic crimes, detaining 726 individuals on money laundering charges, including 424 cross-border suspects. Other detentions included 672 for fraud, 608 for foreign currency speculation, 437 for counterfeiting —188 of them across borders— 202 for currency smuggling, including 29 cross-border cases, 200 for forgery, and 31 for digital currency offenses, including 12 across borders.

Iraq’s global standing has improved as well, with the country ranking 147th on the 2025 Global Peace Index, up from 151st in 2024 and 153rd in 2023, according to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).