Iraq’s Economic Collapse Could Be Biden’s First Foreign-Policy Headache

Members of the Iraqi security forces wearing protective masks and gloves stand guard in the capital Baghdad's Tahrir square on May 5. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

A new Iraq crisis is the last thing that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden needs. Unfortunately, it may be the first foreign-policy problem he has to face.

Iraq is headed for a financial collapse, and in its current fragile state, fiscal ruin is likely to bring down its rickety political system, which could then ignite yet another round of civil war.