Iraq's displaced Yazidis and security forces cast ballots in early voting in parliament election

DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — Members of Iraqi security forces and displaced people living in camps, including minority Yazidis, cast their ballots Sunday in early voting ahead of this week's parliamentary election in Iraq.

The election, which will help determine whether Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani gets a second term, comes against the backdrop of fears of another conflict between Israel and Iran, and Iraq’s balancing act with Tehran and Washington.

An estimated 1.3 million army and security personnel and around 26,000 displaced people are eligible to vote. There are 7,744 candidates competing in the election, most of them from largely sectarian-aligned parties. Election day is set for Tuesday.

Yazidis, many who fled their homes over a decade ago after attacks by the Islamic State group voted at a camp near Dohuk, in the semi-autonomous northern Iraqi Kurdish region. Many have still not been able to return home because of political disputes and lack of infrastructure.

A polling station set up in a small Dohuk school stood almost empty until after 9 a.m., when more voters began to appear, some clutching worn ID cards, others guiding elderly relatives toward the entrance.

Inside, the classrooms were crowded with dozens of monitors from rival parties and candidates.

During their terror campaign, IS militants rampaged through Iraq’s Sinjar district in Nineveh province, killing and enslaving thousands of Yazidis, who the extremist group considered heretics.

Since the defeat of IS in Iraq and Syria, members of the Yazidi community have been trickling back to their homes in Sinjar, but many see no future there. There’s no money to rebuild destroyed homes. Infrastructure is still wrecked. Multiple armed groups carve up the area.

The area has also been caught up in political disputes between the central government in Baghdad and authorities in the Kurdish region wrestling over Sinjar, where each backed a rival local government for years.

“Eleven years passed and the situation is the same," said Khedhir Qassim, a displaced Yazidi from Sinjar who voted at the camp in Dohuk, saying he has little faith that new leaders will bring change.

“We want them to support us and rebuild our areas that are ruined due to their political dispute and where everyone works for their own benefit," he added.

Edris Zozani, another displaced Yazidi who voted in the camp, said he voted for the Kurdish Democratic Party, or KDP, one of the two main Kurdish parties in the country, which holds sway in Dohuk.

“If we have independent Yazidi candidates, they wouldn’t be able to represent us effectively,” he said. “But if they go to parliament as part of strong lists, like the KDP, they would be in a better position to support the Yazidi community.”

In the Iraqi capital, Iraqi soldiers and police voted, as well as members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed militias that united to fight IS. The coalition was formally placed under the control of Iraq's military in 2016 but in practice, still operates with significant autonomy.

The fate of the PMF will be a difficult issue facing the next parliament amid tensions between Baghdad and Washington over the presence of Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The parliament has been considering legislation that would solidify the relationship between the military and the PMF, drawing objections from Washington.

"I voted for the list that defends the PMF,” said one militiaman after voting in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. He did not specify which list he meant.

Several of the armed groups making up the PMF have associated political parties that are participating in the elections.

Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad.

A displaced Yazidi woman has her fingerprint verified before voting ahead of Iraq's parliamentary elections, set for Nov. 11, at a polling station in the Sharia camp near Dohuk, in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rashid Yahya)

Security forces stand guard outside a polling station during a special voting session ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary election in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

An Iraqi policeman casts his vote during the early voting for security forces ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary election in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq's Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, center, visits one of the polling centers during a special voting session ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary election in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A displaced Yazidi man has his fingerprint verified before voting ahead of Iraq's parliamentary elections, set for Nov. 11, at a polling station in the Sharia camp near Dohuk, in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rashid Yahya)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump'sState of the Union address tilted heavily on domestic issues, but he's also made the case for his foreign policy efforts to Americans who are increasingly uneasy about his priorities.

The president cheered brokering a fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza and his team's bringing home hostages taken by Hamas militants, capturing autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and pressing fellow NATO members to increase defense spending among his biggest wins.

At a moment when polls show the American public increasingly concerned about the economy, Trump's assignment Tuesday evening also was to cut through thickening skepticism that he’s staying true to his “America First” philosophy after a year in which his focus was often far from home. It's a wariness shared by some who once counted themselves among Trump's closest allies.

But Trump made the case that he's taking the right approach balancing domestic policy concerns while using America's military might when needed.

“As president, I will make peace wherever I can — but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must,” Trump said.

Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults said they disapprove of how Trump is handling foreign policy, while 56% say Trump has “gone too far” in using the U.S. military to intervene in other countries, according to surveys from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted earlier this month and in January.

Here are a few moments where Trump sought to show his foreign policy approach is working:

The growing unease comes as Trump weighs whether to carry out new military action on Iran. He last week warned Iran that “bad things will happen” soon if a deal is not reached over its nuclear program.

Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet again Thursday in Geneva with Iranian officials as U.S. warships and fighter jets mass in the Mideast.

Trump explained to Americans why he's pondering military action, just eight months after he claimed that U.S. strikes had “obliterated” three critical Iranian nuclear facilities and left “the bully of the Middle East" with no choice but to make peace.

“We wiped it out and they want to start all over again. And they’re at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Trump said. “We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

But the pathway to a deal seems murky as the authoritarian clerics who rule Iran say they will only discuss the nuclear issue. The U.S. and Israel also want to address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional armed proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

Tuesday also marks the four-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On the campaign trail, Trump boasted that he would be able to end Russia's war on Ukraine in one day, but he has struggled to fulfill his pledge.

Russian and Ukrainian officials are negotiating in U.S.-mediated talks but are at loggerheads over key issues, including Russian demands that Kyiv concede Ukrainian territory still in its control and who will get the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe.

Russian troops have moved only about 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) into eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region in the past two years.

Despite the slow pace, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains his maximalist demands, saying Kyiv must pull its forces from four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed but never fully captured.

Trump argues it's inevitable that Russia will win control of the Ukrainian territory and has pressured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make a deal to save lives.

Trump appears eager for a peace deal before the U.S. midterm elections despite the challenges. Zelenskyy says the White House has set a June deadline for the war’s end and will likely pressure both sides to meet it.

Ukraine, Russia and the rest of Europe will be listening closely to hear what Trump has to say about ending the war.

Trump again celebrated last month's capture of the Venezuelan leader in an audacious military operation, saying the U.S. “just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil.” The Trump administration had previously said it was orchestrating the effort to sell a total of about 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stranded by a partial blockade imposed by the administration.

Maduro and his wife were whisked to New York where they are being held to face trial on federal drug conspiracy charges.

Trump paid tribute to a helicopter pilot who was wounded in the operation but still managed to carry out the mission and paused to award him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He also introduced a Venezuelan political prisoner freed by the Venezuelan government following the U.S. operation.

“This was an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States,” Trump boasted.

In the aftermath, Trump has called on U.S. oil executives to rush back into Venezuela as the White House tries to quickly secure $100 billion in investments to fix the country’s neglected infrastructure and fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum.

Trump’s action against Maduro, coupled with an increasingly aggressive posture in the Western Hemisphere aimed at eliminating drug trafficking and illegal migration, are a concern for many in the region — although they also have won support from some smaller countries.

Trump has likened the strategy to the Monroe Doctrine, with its rejection of outside influences and assertion of U.S. primacy throughout what the administration considers to be “America’s backyard."

U.S. forces, under Trump's orders, have carried out dozens of military strikes on alleged drug-running vessels in the Caribbean, seized sanctioned oil tankers and tightened the embargo of Cuba as part of what the president is referring to as the “Donroe Doctrine.”

"We’re also restoring American security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests and defend our country from violence, drugs, terrorism and foreign interference," Trump said.

The president ahead of the address ridiculed the six justices, including two conservatives he appointed in his first term, who last week struck down his use of a 1977 legal authority he had cited for most of the tariff hikes he imposed over the past year on friends and foes alike.

In his speech, he took a more measured tone, calling the decision “an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court.”

Trump on Monday threatened countries around the world to abide by any tariff deals they have already agreed to.

Any country that wants to “play games” with the Supreme Court decision, Trump posted on social media, will be met with “a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to.”

Over the weekend, Trump announced he would increase to 15% a new global tariff aimed at replacing many of the import taxes ruled illegal by the Supreme Court last week.

He’s already signed an executive order enabling him to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tax on imports from around the world, starting Tuesday. Those tariffs are limited to 150 days unless they are extended legislatively.

“The good news is almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made," Trump said. He added, “The legal power that I as president have to make a new deal could be far worse for them and therefore they will continue to work along the same successful path we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement."

Associated Press writers Colin Binkley, Jonathan J. Cooper and Matthew Lee contributed reporting

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Jessica Koscielniak/Pool Photo via AP)

President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Members of the United States' Olympic hockey team attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, walk out of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, to travel to the U.S. Capitol where he will deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks before he signs a presidential memorandum imposing tariffs and investment restrictions on China in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, March 22, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Donald Trump holds up a signed resolution during a Board of Peace meeting at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)