Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday Islamic State had been defeated from a military perspective but he would only declare final victory after IS militants were routed in the desert.

The Ambassador of Bahrain to Iraq, Salah Al-Maliki, said that �the issue of non-extradition of wanted terrorists to Bahrain may affect some of the steps going forward,� he implicitly denied the existence of any Iraqis wanted by the Iraqi government on Bahrain territory.

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government on Monday called on the international community to intervene and help lift sanctions imposed by the central government in Baghdad in retaliation for a September referendum on Kurdish independence.

Iraq�s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Monday that the Sept. 25 Kurdish independence referendum was unconstitutional and the results void, a court spokesman said.

Bahrain�s Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa called on his Iraqi counterpart to quickly hold the meeting of the joint commission between the two countries.

All Bahraini citizens in Iraq are safe and no injuries were reported among them during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Iraq 2 days ago, the Bahraini ambassador to Iraq Salah Al-Maliki stressed.

Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Saturday to capture Rawa, the last remaining town under Islamic-State control, leaving the group's self-proclaimed caliphate on the verge of complete defeat.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said on Wednesday his country was against "isolating and besieging" any other country.

Iraq�s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Monday that no region or province can secede from the country, reacting to a Kurdish vote for independence, a court spokesman said.

An Iraqi Shi�ite militia fighting Islamic State in Iraq near the border with Syria will also take on the jihadist group in the Syria border town of Albu Kamal, the militia�s spokesman was quoted as saying on Friday.

Iraq's Kurdish region said on Thursday it had offered a joint Kurdish-Iraqi deployment at a strategic crossing into Turkey with the participation of U.S.-led international forces as part of a compromise aimed at ending a stand-off with Baghdad.

Iraq plans to hold parliamentary elections on May 15 to choose a prime minister, a statement from the prime minister�s office said late on Tuesday.

Iraqi forces threatened on Wednesday to resume operations to capture northern Kurdish-held territory after accusing authorities there of delaying handing over control of Iraq�s borders with Turkey, Iran and Syria.

There are no winners among Iraq�s Kurds, just weeks after Kurdish president Masoud Barzani gambled away his people�s autonomy in a defiant independence referendum.

The Iraqi government plans to soon start paying the salaries of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and civil servants working for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday.

Iraqi troops deployed on Tuesday at one of the main land crossings with Turkey, gaining a foothold at the Kurdish-held frontier for the first time in decades and imposing one of Baghdad�s central demands on the Kurds.

An Iraqi military delegation is preparing to take control of the Kurdistan region border with Syria, an Iraqi military statement said on Tuesday.

The Bahraini authorities deported today (Tuesday, October 31, 2017) morning citizen Ibrahim Karimi after serving his prison term sentence.

Iran will reopen all its border crossings with Iraq�s Kurdistan region in the coming days, lifting restrictions imposed after last month�s Kurdish vote in favor of independence, its chief of staff said on Monday.

Iraqi government forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reached an agreement on Sunday to deploy Iraqi Federal Police forces to a key border crossing with Turkey in the country�s north.