Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani

Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani was born in Baghdad on 4 March 1970,^[11] to a middle-class Shia Arab^[1] family.^[12] Hailing originally from the province of Maysan in southern Iraq, his father worked as an employee at the Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Iraq.^[13] When Al-Sudani was around 10 years old, his father as well as five other members of his family were executed for being members of the Islamic Dawa Party, a banned party at the time that opposed the Ba'athist rule of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.^[14]

Al-Sudani graduated from the University of Baghdad and holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural science and a master's degree in project management.

Before the invasion of Iraq, al-Sudani lived a modest apolitical life as an agricultural engineer. In 1997, al-Sudani joined the Maysan Agriculture Office, where he was subsequently appointed to a number of senior positions in the office such as the head of the Agriculture department, head of the Ali Al-Sharqi City Agriculture department, and head of the Agricultural Production department. He was also the supervising engineer in the National Research Program with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.^[15]

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Sudani joined the Islamic Dawa Party and worked as a coordinator between the Maysan province administration and the Coalition Provisional Authority. In 2004 he was appointed mayor of Amarah City, and in the 2005 provincial elections he was elected as a member of Maysan Provincial Council. He was re-elected in 2009 and appointed governor of Maysan.^[16]

In a bid to end the 2022 Iraqi political crisis, the Coordination Framework officially nominated Al-Sudani for the post of prime minister in May 2022, .^[27] He succeeded in forming a government, which was approved by the Council of Representatives on 27 October.^[28]

In January 2023, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, al-Sudani defended the presence of U.S. troops in his country and set no timetable for their withdrawal, referring to the U.S. and NATO troop contingents that train and assist Iraqi units in countering the Islamic State, but largely stay out of combat, though he mentioned that the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq is no longer needed.^[29]

On 20 July 2023, al-Sudani expelled the Swedish ambassador to Iraq and revoked work permits for Swedish companies after Sweden permitted a planned Quran burning.^[30]

In April 2024, al-Sudani condemned the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus.^[31] Also in this same month he visited the United States and met with President Joe Biden.^[32] He also received the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to sign the Iraq–Europe Development Road project.^[33]

In September 2024 at the United Nations General Assembly he condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and met various leaders who discussed bilateral relations with him.^[34]

During the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives against the Assad regime, he stated that "what is happening in Syria today is in the interest of the Zionist entity Israel, which deliberately bombed Syrian Army sites in a way that paved the way for terrorist groups to control additional areas in Syria."^[35] However, he avoided intervening in the conflict on the side of Bashar al-Assad despite pressure to do so from some domestic groups.^[36]

On 29 July 2025, in an interview with The Associated Press, al-Sudani revealed that during the Twelve Day War, the Iraqi government thwarted 29 attempts by pro-Iran militias to launch drones and missiles towards Israel, stating, "we know that the (Israeli) government had a policy — and still does — of expanding the war in the region ... we made sure not to give any excuse to any party to target Iraq".^[37]

On 9 September 2025, al-Sudani announced on Twitter that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher who had been kidnapped by Kataib Hezbollah, had been released after 903 days of captivity. US State Department spokesperson stated that her release came after "a decisive partnership with [Iraqi] Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani".^[38][39]

The Economist described Baghdad construction boom taking place under al-Sudani, as well as digitalisation of government services.^[40]

Relations with PMF and Coordination Framework

The Economist has said that al-Sudani is affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and his tenure has seen their influence further increase in Iraq.^[41] His government has increased the number of troops for the PMF by 116,000, increasing the total number to around 230,000, and has set its budget to US$2.7 billion. It has also launched a building company affiliated with the PMF, named after killed PMF commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis; the company gives preferential access to government contractors and the government has awarded the company with strategic land.^[41]

Relationship with Coordination Framework, especially with Nouri al-Maliki worsened, the two becoming rivals. Al-Sudani created his own Reconstruction and Development Coalition.^[42]

On 8 August 2025, government announced the dismissal of Kataib Hezbollah commanders within PMF, after Kataib Hezbollah stormed agriculture ministry building.^[43]

Al-Sudani is currently the leader of two political movements; the Furatayn Movement, which he founded on 19 January 2019, and the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, an electoral alliance which he established on 20 May 2025 to contest the 2025 parliamentary elections.^[51][52]

His "Iraq First" agenda has been compared to that of the U.S. President Donald Trump. Newsweek drew parallels between Trump's MAGA slogan and al-Sudani's leadership, describing the latter as a man who wants to "Make Iraq Great Again". During his tenure, al-Sudani has repeatedly emphasized the importance of strong Iraq–United States relations.^[53]

Al-Sudani is married and has four sons. His firstborn, Mustafa (born 2001), has a son named Mohammed.^[54]

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