The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated its Iraq travel advice on 22 July 2026. The current posture advises against all but essential travel to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in full, and to most provinces of Federal Iraq. The strongest warning, advise against all travel, is now held only for named high-risk areas.
Those areas include the parts of Anbar province west of Ramadi City, Diyala province excluding Baqubah City, Kirkuk, Ninawa and Salah al-Din provinces, Jurf al-Sakr town in Babil, Sadr City in Baghdad, and zones within five kilometres of the Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait borders.
The driver behind the volatility is regional. The FCDO notes that since 8 July there have been strikes and retaliatory attacks by Iran in a number of locations across the region, including Iraq, with a real risk of flight cancellations and airspace closures.
For anyone planning protective movement or duty travel into Iraq, the advisory has softened at the margins but the operational picture has not. Airspace closures and short-notice cancellations are the live threat to any itinerary. Build contingency around flights, hold to the all but essential posture, and treat the named provinces as no-go.
