ABSTRACT
Previous chapters of this book cover the ten years after the invasion of Iraq, and analyse these disasters and why they occurred. They focus mainly on the issues and events during the decade after 2003 with minimum updating on the issues after 2014, considering that the period from 2003 to 2013 is crucial to understanding the whole process of post-2003 developments in Iraq.
This epilogue focuses the political development after the national election held in 2018, considering that what happened after 2014 shook not only Iraq and the region but also the whole world. Islamic State (IS) control established in June 2014 over almost one-third of Iraqi territory had a grave impact on the political situation in Iraq.
Furthermore, sectarian aspects of regional conflicts have been intensified since 2011, while proxy wars between regional powers in Syria and Yemen became increasingly serious. Iran has emerged, in the eyes of the United States and its regional allies, as a regional threat to post-IS Middle East and US sanctions against Iran resumed in May 2018. Saudi Arabia, regional rival of Iran in the Gulf, cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016. Iraq is the state that may be most affected by the heightened tension between Iran and the United States. The lesson from the invasion of Iraq should be kept in mind, especially in the recent escalated tension between the United States and Iran in 2019, when both were suggesting the possibility of war.
