Baghdad outdoes Pravda in political fantasy

Not even Pravda, with all its Soviet pedigree in propaganda, would dare fabricate a fantasy this cheap. But an Iraqi newspaper did. Its front page headline read: “Iraq vetoes Netanyahu’s participation in the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit.”
An Iraqi veto? Against Netanyahu? Political imagination took flight, soaring far beyond reality, brushing the edges of absurdity.
In politics, little surprises any more. But illusion has its-limit-s. Can the Coordination Framework government, led by Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani, dictate terms to an Israeli prime minister who confronts world leaders with arrogance and impunity, while waging a two-year war of annihilation in Gaza?
The answer needs no elaborate analysis. Iraq, unable to shield its skies from Israeli jets bombing Iran, cannot stop Netanyahu from attending a summit. Sudani’s presence was a decorative detail, just enough to complete the televised tableau.
Iraq’s role in Sharm El-Sheikh was peripheral. Even Sudani’s placement in the group photo was telling: pushed to the edge, where faces are invited, not influential. There he stood, silent. A symbolic snapshot of Iraq’s diminished role in a region that expects nothing from Baghdad.
Then came the diplomatic slap from Washington. Trump, in his theatrical tone as global peace club president, declared: “Iraq is here with us in Sharm El-Sheikh. This country has vast oil reserves and no clue what to do with them.”
A line that reveals the American lens: a nation rich in oil, poor in agency. Corruption, smuggling and factional loyalties, Washington sees the full picture. Sudani, meanwhile, avoids comment, lest he offend the patron keeping his government afloat.

So how, exactly, does Iraq “veto” Netanyahu? Is it plausible that Baghdad can object to an Israeli leader’s presence, while remaining silent as Israeli jets violate its airspace en route to Iranian targets?
All the Coordination Framework did back then was rush to Washington, pleading for protection under the security agreement. A state that begs for aerial defence cannot afford the luxury of objecting to Israeli attendance at a regional summit.
Then came fresh US sanctions on Al-Muhandis Company, the economic arm of the Popular Mobilisation Forces. A reminder to Sudani: your authority is drawn in Washington, not Baghdad. A senior American official said it plainly, albeit quietly: “Restricting Iraq’s access to its oil revenues remains on the table.” No need to act on the threat. Fear alone keeps Iraqi decisions reactive.
Since the 2003 invasion, oil has been America’s true lever of influence. Not just weapons´-or-bases, but financial control. Baghdad remains hostage to US Treasury approval. This is modern-day trusteeship. Washington does not need boots on the ground to steer an entire government.
As for Israel, it no longer sees Iraq as a threat. In Tel Aviv, the picture is clear: militias chanting “Death to Israel” are merely echo chambers, broadcast from Baghdad, timed in Tehran. When Iran lowers the volume, everyone falls silent. It is a sonic phenomenon, nothing more. Iraqi militias speak of Israel as if trapped in an old revolutionary speech, while reality flies overhead in Israeli jets unchallenged.
And when absurdity peaks, Qais al-Khazali enters the scene, adding myth to madness. Not far from the newspaper’s cheap headline, he claimed Mossad used a “prostitute” to orchestrate the assassination of Imam Ali in the 7th century. Israeli intelligence filed the statement under “Comic History.” With a footnote: “Mossad was founded in 1949.”
Even Pravda, at its most delusional, never reached this level of naivety. But today’s Iraqi press, and Khazali, have surpassed it. They claimed Sudani vetoed Netanyahu’s presence. On the same day, Sudani returned from the summit with a public scolding from Trump over oil smuggling.
The irony is not in the lie itself. It is in the confidence that lies alone can build a fictional sense of nationhood. This is Iraq’s version of Pravda, where propaganda replaces the state, and illusion becomes policy.
The trumpet is no longer Soviet. It is Iraqi, speaking the language of paid press services, loyalty over sovereignty.
Illusion in Iraq is no longer a slip of the tongue. It is a full-fledged propaganda system, fuelled by fear of truth. Managed in Tehran. Marketed in Baghdad. Funded by oil no one can trace.
This propaganda does not persuade. It sedates. A linguistic anaesthesia masking political emptiness. It clouds the eyes from truth. Words like “sovereignty” and “national decision” become hollow symbols, repeated only to keep the echo alive.
So when an Iraqi newspaper claims its country vetoed Netanyahu, it is not lying. It is revealing its inability to face reality. It declares heroism in headlines, because it lost it on the ground.
This is the essence of Iran’s enduring illusion in Iraq: crafting a national image from borrowed voices. Convincing people that shouting equals power.
Language has replaced action, just as it did in Pravda, when the Soviet empire was dying while claiming to recover.
And so the Iraqi scene today: a country that speaks endlessly of sovereignty, because it no longer possesses any. Sovereignty is announced in headlines when it disappears in reality. And the louder Baghdad speaks, the closer Washington’s hand hovers over the control switch.

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