Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani | |
|---|---|
محمد شياع السوداني | |
.jpg) al-Sudani in 2024 | |
| Prime Minister of Iraq | |
| Assumed office 27 October 2022 | |
| President | Abdul Latif Rashid |
| Preceded by | Mustafa Al-Kadhimi |
| Minister of Labour and Social Affairs | |
| In office 8 September 2014 – 25 October 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Nassar al-Rubaye |
| Succeeded by | Bassem al-Rubaye |
| ActingMinister of Industry and Minerals | |
| In office 14 August 2016 – 25 October 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Nasser Al Esawi |
| Succeeded by | Salih Abdullah al-Jubouri |
| ActingMinister of Trade | |
| In office 2016–2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Malas Abdulkarim al-Kasnazani |
| Succeeded by | Salman al-Jamili |
| Acting Minister of Migration and the Displaced | |
| In office 2014–2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Dindar Najman |
| Succeeded by | Jassim Mohammed al-Jaf |
| ActingMinister of Finance | |
| In office 8 September 2014 – 18 October 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Najeeba Najeeb |
| Succeeded by | Hoshyar Zibari |
| ActingMinister of Agriculture | |
| In office 8 March 2013 – 8 September 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Preceded by | Izz al-Din al-Dawla |
| Succeeded by | Falah Hassan al-Zidan |
| Minister of Human Rights | |
| In office 21 December 2010 – 18 October 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Preceded by | Wijdan Michael Salim |
| Succeeded by | Mohammed Mahdi al-Bayati |
| Governor ofMaysan Province | |
| In office 2009–2010 | |
| Prime Minister | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Preceded by | Adil Mahwadar Radi |
| Succeeded by | Ali Dawai Lazem |
| Mayor ofAmarah City | |
| In office 2004–2005 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1970-03-04)4 March 1970 (age 55) |
| Political party | Furatayn Movement (2019–present)[1] Dawa (2003–2019)[2] |
| Other political affiliations | Reconstruction and Development Coalition (2025–present)[3] |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | University of Baghdad (Master's Degree) |
| Profession | Politician |
| Signature |  |
Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani[a] (born 4 March 1970) is an Iraqi politician and former engineer who has been theprime minister of Iraq since 27 October 2022. Prior to his premiership, he held a number of ministerial positions; namely, minister of labour and social affairs, actingminister of industry and minerals, actingminister of trade, acting minister of migration and the displaced, actingminister of finance,[4] actingminister of agriculture,[5] andminister of human rights.[6][7]
Furthermore, he has also held the position of governor ofMaysan,[8] and mayor ofAmarah.[9] In 2025,The Muslim 500 included him among the most influential Muslim politicians.[10]
Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani was born inBaghdad on 4 March 1970,[11] to a middle-classShiaArab[1] family.[12] Hailing originally from the province ofMaysan in southern Iraq, his father worked as an employee at theAgricultural Cooperative Bank of Iraq.[13] His father as well as five other members of his family were executed for being members of theIslamic Dawa Party, a banned party at the time that opposed theBa'athist rule ofSaddam Hussein in Iraq.[14]
Al-Sudani graduated from theUniversity of Baghdad and holds a bachelor's degree inagricultural science and a master's degree in project management.
Before theinvasion of Iraq, al-Sudani lived a modest apolitical life as an agricultural engineer. In 1997, al-Sudani was appointed to 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 theFood 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 theCoalition Provisional Authority. In 2004 he was appointed mayor ofAmarah City, and in the2005 provincial elections he was elected as a member of Maysan Provincial Council. He wasre-elected in 2009 and appointed governor of Maysan.[16]
He was appointed by Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki as the Minister of Human Rights after the2010 parliamentary election, being approved by parliament on 21 December 2010.
His ministry was in charge of findingmass graves in Iraq from the regime of Saddam Hussein. Two were found in 2011, one inAnbar and another inAl Diwaniyah.[17][18] During 2011, he was briefly chairman of the Supreme National De-Baathification Commission/Justice and Accountability Commission forDe-Ba'athification, which had the power to bar individuals from government for links to the former rulingBa'ath Party.[citation needed] He coordinated with the ministry of migration to help Iraqi citizens residing in Syria to return to Iraq during theSyrian Civil War.[19]
He was minister in August 2014 when thousands ofYazidis weremassacred in northern Iraq by theIslamic State (ISIL or Daesh). He described it as "a vicious atrocity" and said it was the "responsibility of the international community to take a firm stand against the Daesh" and to "start the war on Daesh to stop genocides and atrocities against civilians".[20] He asked theUnited Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into crimes against civilians committed by ISIL. He described their crimes as amounting togenocide andcrimes against humanity.[21] "We are facing a terrorist monster", he explained. "Their movement must be curbed. Their assets should be frozen and confiscated. Their military capacities must be destroyed."[22]
He was appointed minister of Labour and Social Affairs in 2014, and his post in the ministry of human rights was succeeded byMohammed Mahdi Ameen al-Bayati in October 2014, when the government ofHaider al-Abadi took office.[23]
During his political career, al-Sudani has worked as the acting minister of a number of ministries:Agriculture,Finance, Migration and the Displaced,Industry and Minerals, andTrade.[24]
In December 2019, al-Sudani announced his departure from the Islamic Dawa Party and in January 2019, he announced the formation of theFuratayn Movement. His is areformist-centrist party, which he said was born out of the necessity to "correct the trajectory of the State against corrupters".[25]
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In a bid to end the2022 Iraqi political crisis, the coordination framework officially nominated Al-Sudani for the post of prime minister in May 2022.[26] He succeeded in forming a government, which was approved by theCouncil of Representatives on 27 October.[27]
In January 2023, in an interview withThe 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.[28]
The Economist has said that al-Sudani is affiliated with thePopular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and his tenure has seen their influence further increase in Iraq.[29] 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 commanderAbu Mahdi al-Muhandis; the company gives preferential access to government contractors and the government has awarded the company with strategic land.[29]
On 20 July 2023, al-Sudani expelled theSwedish ambassador to Iraq and revoked work permits for Swedish companies after Sweden permitted a plannedQuran burning.[30]
On 10 October 2023, al-Sudani arrived in Moscow and met with Russian presidentVladimir Putin.[31] On 21 October 2023, he called for a ceasefire in theGaza war.[32]
In November 2023, during a meeting with Iranian presidentEbrahim Raisi, he described theHamas attack on Israel as "a result of years of criminal policies of the Zionist regime against the people of Gaza."[33]
On 17 February 2024, he met with German chancellorOlaf Scholz in Munich while he was attending theMunich Security Conference where he met with various world leaders.[34]
In April 2024, al-Sudani condemned theIsraeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus.[35] Also in this same month he visited the United States and met with President Joe Biden.[36] Also he received the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and they signed a revolutionary project called theIraq–Europe Development Road.[37]
In May 2024, he attended the memorial ceremony for PresidentEbrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash, in the Iranian capital, Tehran.[38]
In September 2024 at theUnited Nations General Assembly he condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and met various leaders who discussed bilateral relations with him.[39]
During the 2024Syrian opposition offensives against theAssad regime, he stated that "what is happening in Syria today is in the interest of theZionist entityIsrael, which deliberately bombedSyrian Army sites in a way that paved the way for terrorist groups to control additional areas in Syria."[40] However, he avoided intervening in the conflict on the side ofBashar al-Assad despite pressure to do so from some domestic groups.[41]
In April 2025, he made an unannounced visit to Qatar and met with Syrian PresidentAhmed al-Sharaa and Qatari EmirTamim bin Hamad Al Thani.[42][43]
On 29 July 2025, in an interview withThe Associated Press, al-Sudani revealed that during theTwelve 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".[44]
On 9 September 2025, al-Sudani announced on Twitter thatElizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher who had been kidnapped byKataib 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".[45][46]
Al-Sudani is currently the leader of two political movements, the Furatayn Movement, which he founded on 19 January 2019, and theReconstruction and Development Coalition, an electoral alliance which he established on 20 May 2025 to contest the2025 parliamentary elections.[47][48]
His "Iraq First" agenda has been compared to that of the U.S. PresidentDonald Trump.Newsweek drew parallels between Trump'sMAGA 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 emphasised the importance of strongIraq–United States relations.[49]
Al-Sudani is married and has four sons. His firstborn, Mustafa (born 2001), has a son named Mohammed.[50]
| Mandatory Iraq (1920–1932) |
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| Kingdom of Iraq (1932–1958) |
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| First Republic of Iraq (1958–1968) |
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| Ba'athist Iraq (1968–2003) |
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| Iraqi Governing Council (2003–2004) |
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| Republic of Iraq (since 2004) |
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