| NEAREAST | Locale of Iraq and Israel |
| MIDEAST | Locale of Iraq and Iran |
| DINAR | Currency of Iraq and Serbia |
| ISIL | Initially, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (4) |
| DAESH | Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant |
| KURD | Member of an ethnic and linguistic group living primarily in contiguous areas of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey |
| THREEKINGS | 1999 black comedy set in Iraq and starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube; also the name of an Auckland suburb (5,5) |
| DAVID | King of Judah and Israel, Saul's successor (5) |
| GOLAN | Plateau on the border of Syria and Israel, ... Heights |
| GEORGEFREDERICKHANDEL | Composer of the oratorios Saul and Israel in Egypt |
| ASIA | Home to Iran, Iraq, India, and Israel |
| REDSEA | Body of water between Egypt and Israel (3,3) |
| AXIS | ___ of Evil (term George W. Bush used for Iran, Iraq, and North Korea) |
| ASSYRIA | One of the world's great empires, occupying present-day northern Iraq and south-eastern Turkey (7) |
| KURDISTAN | Mountainous region in the Middle East that has struggled for self-determination since 1923 against the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria |
| SUEZCANAL | The first major Olympics boycott was in 1956, when Egypt, Cambodia, Iraq, and Lebanon withdrew over seizure of this waterway |
| BAGHDAD | ------- Central, C4 crime thriller set in Iraq and starring Waleed Zuaiter and July Namir (7) |
| IRAN | It borders Iraq and shares 3/4 of its name |
| OPEC | Grp. that includes Iraq and Qatar |
| LOUISQUATORZE | Antique style unknown in Iraq - and Toulouse, oddly |
