Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said the country does not need normalization, stressing that the term “is not in Iraq’s dictionary.”
Speaking during Christmas celebrations at St. Joseph’s Church in Baghdad on Wednesday, Al-Sudani said Iraq’s position on what he described as “issues of destiny” remained firm and reflected the core principles of the Iraqi people.
“In Iraq, we do not need normalization; rather, we need brotherhood, love, and coexistence. This is a moral, religious, constitutional, and legal commitment that governs our relationships. The term normalization is not in the Iraqi dictionary, because it is linked to an occupying entity that stands against land and humanity, and which all heavenly religions reject,” said Al-Sudani, referring to the Zionist entity.
🇮🇶❌🇮🇱 "Normalization does not exist in the Iraqi dictionary."
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) December 25, 2025
Iraq’s Prime Minister al-Sudani rules out normalization with Israel, saying, "We in Iraq do not need normalization, and the word normalization does not exist in the Iraqi dictionary."
Earlier, the Chaldean Catholic… pic.twitter.com/R66vgjnVNO
His remarks followed comments by Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and worldwide, who referred to public discussion around normalization.
The head of the Iraqi Christians, Patriarch Louis Sako, calls for normalization with the Israel and hopes that the next government will launch the normalization process from Iraq, in the presence of the Iraqi Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/CForq5NEI6
— Sprinter Press (@SprinterPress) December 24, 2025
“Mr. Prime Minister, there is talk about normalization, and I hope that the new government will ensure that normalization is in Iraq and with Iraq,” Cardinal Sako said in his speech at the St. Joseph’s Chaldean Cathedral in Baghdad.
The Iraqi parliament passed a bill in 2022 which criminalizes relations with Israel. The main part of the bill bans “the establishment of diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural relations and any other sort of relations with the invading Zionist entity.”