Iraq at Risk: Patriarch Calls for Dialogue Amid Iran Tensions

Pope Francis greets Iraqi Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on Feb. 18, 2022. (CNS photo/Vatican Media).

Louis Raphaël I Sako warned that escalating violence between Iran and its adversaries risks dragging Iraq into a wider regional conflict, stressing that war will only deepen instability in the Middle East. Speaking to Vatican News amid recent Iranian strikes across Iraq following Israeli-American attacks on Iran, the patriarch said he is “deeply concerned” about where the conflict could lead, especially for a country that has already endured decades of violence and upheaval.

Sako noted that Iraq has painful memories of past wars, particularly the chaos that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion. With Iran launching rockets and drones at targets across Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region and areas near Baghdad and Basra, he warned that the country could once again become caught in the middle of a larger geopolitical struggle. Because Iraq shares close political, religious, and geographic ties with Iran, he said the situation creates a “double concern” for Iraqi society and raises fears of a broader regional war.

The patriarch also voiced particular concern for Iraq’s Christian communities, especially in the Nineveh Plains, where about 50,000 Christians live after returning from displacement caused by ISIS. He warned that renewed violence in the region could force Christians to flee once again—and that this time many might never return to their historic homeland.

“War is not the solution,” he said, urging international leaders to pursue dialogue and responsible political solutions before the conflict spirals into a larger catastrophe.