Asia · Western Asia · Sovereign state
Current time in Iraq
A single time zone at UTC+03:00.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
About Iraq's time
A single time zone.
Iraq has a single time zone across the entire country, operating at UTC+03:00 year-round with no daylight saving time adjustments.
Major cities
Cities of Iraq.
History
How Iraq keeps time.
Iraq has used UTC+03:00 as its standard time since 1918, when it replaced Baghdad Mean Time (local solar time, about UTC+02:57). Its standard offset has not changed since.
Iraq observed daylight saving time (UTC+04:00) every summer from 1982 to 2007; from 1991 clocks went forward on 1 April and back on 1 October. The practice was dropped in 2008, and Iraq has stayed on UTC+03:00 all year since then.
Did you know?
Things about Iraq's time.
Despite spanning a geographic breadth that could theoretically support two time zones (from roughly 39°E to 48°E longitude), Iraq maintains a single national time zone. This means that in the far east, around Basra (about 47.8°E), the sun peaks on average roughly 10 minutes before clock noon, while in the west, around Rutba (about 40.3°E), it peaks nearly 20 minutes after. The unified time zone supports national cohesion and simplifies governance but creates noticeable east-west discrepancies in how clock time aligns with natural daylight patterns across the country.
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Iraq to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Iraq's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Does Iraq observe daylight saving time?
- No, Iraq does not observe daylight saving time. The country uses UTC+03:00 year-round, so you don't need to account for seasonal time changes.
- How does Iraq's time compare to neighboring countries?
- Iraq shares the same UTC+03:00 offset with several neighbors including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey, as well as Bahrain and Qatar, making cross-border scheduling with Gulf states straightforward.
- Why does Iraq use UTC+03:00 instead of UTC+03:30?
- Iraq has never used UTC+03:30; it has been on UTC+03:00 since 1918. UTC+03:30 is the time in neighboring Iran, so Iraq is 30 minutes behind Iran all year.
- Is there a time difference within Iraq?
- No, Iraq has a single national time zone (UTC+03:00) across its entire territory, so the time is the same in Baghdad as it is in Basra or Erbil.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
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This country, as JSON.
Its default time zone, zone and city counts and DST summary, from one endpoint.
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