The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

as well as the most prominent member of the

Iraqi Accord Front The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front (Arabic: جبهة التوافق العراقية ''Jabhet Al-Tawafuq Al-'Iraqiyah'') also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Par ...

political coalition. It was part of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

of Prime Minister

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president ...

and is part of the current government of

Haider al-Abadi Haider Jawad Kadhim al-Abadi ( ar, حيدر جواد كاظم العبادي; born 25 April 1952) is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq from September 2014 until October 2018. Previously he served as Minister of Communication fro ...

since 2014. Osama Tawfiq al-Tikriti succeeded Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi as the party's secretary-general on 24 May 2009, who was succeeded in July 2011 by Ayad al-Samarrai. The IIP evolved out of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and was banned from 1961 during Iraqi nationalist rule, something which continued throughout the reign of the Pan-Arab Ba'ath Party right up to the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

in 2003. Like the Muslim Brotherhood, the IIP's religious rather than ethno-political ideology made the party systematically incompatible under the Iraqi governments between 1961 and 2003.iraqi islamic party (iip)
, '' Niqash'', 7 November 2005, accessed on 24 July 2010 During the 1970s, the IIP began operating in exile in Great Britain and published a newspaper called '' Dar al-Salam''. Iyad al-Samara'i was elected to serve as secretary-general.

Party leaders

*Shura Council Chairman: Dr. Mohsen Abdel Hamid *Secretary-General: Rashid al-Azzawi *Deputy Secretary-General: *Assistant Secretary-General: Dr. Ziad al-Ani

Political Bureau

*Dr. Alaa Maki *Dr. Omar Abdul Sattar Karbouli *Professor Abd al-Karim al-Samarrai *Professor Naseer al-Ani

Post-invasion

Mohsen Abdel Hamid served on the

Iraqi Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi pol ...

that worked alongside the

Coalition Provisional Authority ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdish English (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay ...

after the invasion of Iraq. It joined the

Iraqi Interim Government The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...

where it had one minister, Hajim al-Hassani. On 9 November 2004, the IIP withdrew from the government in protest over

Operation Phantom Fury The Second Battle of Fallujah, codenamed Operation al-Fajr ( ar, الفجر, ) and Operation Phantom Fury, was an American-led offensive of the Iraq War that lasted roughly 6 weeks, starting 7th November, 2004. Marking the highest point of the ...

, an offensive at Fallujah led by

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

forces. Hassani chose to stay in the government and quit the party, later joining The Iraqis list.

Government participation

The party initially supported the general elections of 30 January 2005 but pulled out of the national election one month before the vote saying violence made a fair election impossible. The party did participate in some elections for governorate level posts on the same day (see for instance 2005 Ninawa governorate election and 2005 Al-Anbar governorate council election). The IIP led a large-scale public campaign urging Iraqis (especially the Sunnis) to vote against the constitutional referendum in 2005. Two days before the referendum took place, the IIP announced its support for a "yes" vote, following a compromise with the members of the

Iraqi Transitional Government The Iraqi Transitional Government was the government of Iraq from May 3, 2005, when it replaced the Iraqi Interim Government, until May 20, 2006, when it was replaced by a permanent government. On April 28 it was approved by the transitional Ira ...

whereby the newly elected Iraqi National Assembly would consider amendments to the constitution in 2006. In the December 2005 election, the IIP ran as part of the

coalition, which won 44 seats, the most for any Sunni Arab coalition. The leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Mu'sab al- Zarqawi, condemned the IIP for their participation in the general election. The party's platform for the elections included demanding a timetable for the withdrawal of the

Multinational force in Iraq Multinational may refer to: * Multinational corporation, a corporate organization operating in multiple countries * Multinational force, a military body from multiple countries * Multinational state, a sovereign state that comprises two or more na ...

, opposition to

federalism in Iraq The 2005 Constitution of Iraq defines Iraq for the first time as a federal country. History After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1919, Iraq became a League of Nations mandate under temporary British control. Mahmud Barzanji led a Kurdish r ...

, opposition to

De-Ba'athification De-Ba'athification (‎) refers to a policy undertaken in Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and subsequent Iraqi governments to remove the Ba'ath Party's influence in the new Iraqi political system after the U.S.-led invasion ...

and promotion of Islamic values. Following the elections in 2006, the IAF joined the

United Iraqi Alliance The National Iraqi Alliance (NIA or INA; ar, الائتلاف الوطني العراقي; transliterated: al-Itilaf al-Watani al-Iraqi), also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the 2010 Iraqi legislative ...

-led

. In 2012, the party formed a coalition several Sunni Islamists parties called

Muttahidoon The Uniters for Reform Coalition ( ar, ائتلاف متحدون للاصلاح ''I'tilāf Muttaḥidūn lil-Iṣlāḥ'') is a Sunni political coalition in Iraq. History The coalition was formed in December 2012, composing ten groups, and led ...

Relationship with US

The party has often criticized the US military presence in Iraq. In October 2008, following a US-backed raid that resulted in the death of a man the IIP said was a senior party official, the party said in a statement that it was suspending all contact with US civilian and military officials.Iraq's main Sunni party suspends contacts with US, AP via Yahoo, 28 October 2008
/ref> A US military drone crashed into the party's offices in Mosul in 2009. A spokesman for US forces in Iraq said the location of the crash was a pure coincidence.

References

External links

Party website
{{Authority control Islamic political parties in Iraq Sunni Islamic political parties Muslim Brotherhood Political parties established in 1960 Islamic organizations established in 1960