Summaries here and here and here. Also this.

Oil-related news:

Guided by American legal advisers, the Iraqi government has canceled a controversial development contract with the Russian company Lukoil for a vast oil field in Iraq’s southern desert, freeing it up for potential international investment in the future.

In response, Russian authorities have threatened to revoke a 2004 deal with creditor nations to forgive $13 billion in Iraqi debt, a senior Iraqi official said. Article

Perhaps just a grab to take credit for the handwriting on the tinderbox wall?

Iran has urged Iraq to postpone a divisive referendum to decide the fate of Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city that sits on giant oil fields, as part of a series of measures to stabilize the country.

The plan was presented on Saturday by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors in Istanbul but was little noticed amid the frantic diplomacy to avert a Turkish incursion into Iraq to hunt down separatist rebels. Iran’s official IRNA news agency said Mottaki proposed a two-year delay for the referendum, due by Dec. 31, which will decide whether the city is incorporated into Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdistan region. An Iranian official familiar with the plan said Tehran believed Baghdad was already juggling too many divisive political issues, including how to share oil revenues equitably. Kirkuk was seen as one hot potato too many.

[snip]

Under the constitution, the referendum is due to be held by the end of the year, but the government has made no preparations, including holding a census. While everyone agrees it is now too late to hold the referendum by Dec. 31, the government has yet to make an announcement postponing it and setting a new date.

But, asked whether the referendum would be held on time, Dabbagh said: “I don’t expect that. Because of the security situation in Kirkuk we have not done a census, which needs to be done before a referendum.” Senior Kurdish politician Najat Hasan, from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), said a delay of a month or two was acceptable, but any longer would be a “gross violation of the constitution.” Article

Zakho: On edge; first in the line of fire.