Why is Iraq's National Day on October 3?

On 3 October 1932 the League of Nations Assembly voted unanimously to admit Iraq, and its British mandate ended the same day. Iraq's Council of Ministers picked that date as the national day in 2020.

Is Iraq's National Day the same as Republic Day on 14 July?

No. July 14 marks the 1958 revolution that ended the monarchy, and some Iraqis argue it is the truer national day; 3 October marks the 1932 League of Nations admission.

Did Iraq become fully independent in 1932?

The mandate ended, but a new Anglo-Iraqi treaty of alliance came into force the same day and ran for twenty-five years, under which Britain kept the right to maintain military bases in Iraq.

Iraq Independence Day

Next celebratedSaturday, October 3, 2026

The British mandate over Iraq ended in 1932 on the same day a new Anglo-Iraqi alliance took effect, one that ran for twenty-five years. The country now takes its national day from that date.

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Last updated September 3, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATEOctober 3

OBSERVED INIraq

CATEGORYCulture

SUBCATEGORYCivics

ORIGIN

Government Proclamation

FOUNDING ENTITY

Council of Ministers of the Republic of Iraq

FIRST OBSERVED

2020

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A cabinet decision, and still no law.

Iraq's Council of Ministers designated 3 October as the country's National Day in September 2020, under Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, choosing the date the League of Nations admitted Iraq in 1932. An earlier attempt to fix the same date by statute reached parliament in 2008 and failed, so the day still rests on that cabinet decision rather than on an act of parliament.

Read the Foreign Ministry statementvia mofa.gov.iq

INTRO

Iraq marks a national day its own law omits

Iraq Independence Day is the national day of a country that has never written it into law. The Official Holiday Law No. 12 of 2024 runs through Iraq's public holidays, from the Hijri New Year to Army Day on 6 January. October 3 is not among them.

The gap is not academic. Two days before the 2024 national day, with state employees and schoolchildren asking whether the Thursday would be a day off, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers put out a short statement saying the holidays law contains no official holiday on 3 October.

What Iraqis mark instead is a vote taken in Geneva. On that date in 1932 the League of Nations Assembly voted unanimously to admit Iraq. The country's mandated status ended the same day.

ORIGINS

Iraq Independence Day history

INTRODUCTION

Britain's authority over Iraq was odd from the beginning. The former Ottoman territory of Mesopotamia was designated an "A" mandate on 25 April 1920, but the State Department's own League of Nations compilation records that it was not strictly administered as such, because a government under King Feisal was already standing.

So Britain governed by treaty instead. A treaty of alliance signed on 10 October 1922 did the work. In September 1924 the British representative on the League Council gave a unilateral undertaking to apply the principles of Article 22 of the Covenant to Iraq.

CHAPTER 01

The exit was scheduled years in advance

The 1926 revision of that alliance built in a clock. Every four years, the question of putting Iraq forward for League membership had to be taken up again. On 4 November 1929 Britain told the League it would recommend Iraq for admission in 1932.

Iraq had to buy the seat with commitments. It made a Declaration before the League Council on 19 May 1932, most of it guarantees to minorities, and the Council asked states holding old Ottoman capitulatory rights to renounce them before Iraq was admitted.

CHAPTER 02

Independence and its price landed together

Prime Minister Nuri Pasha al-Said signed the application to join on 12 July 1932. The Assembly voted on 3 October, and the mandate ended that day. Iraq's foreign ministry has since published a photograph of the session.

A second document took effect at the same moment. The Anglo-Iraqi treaty of alliance signed at Baghdad on 30 June 1930 ran from that day for twenty-five years. Under it Britain kept the right to hold military bases in the country.

CHAPTER 03

The holiday is far younger than the anniversary

For most of the century that followed, the date carried nothing. Before 2003 the national day was 17 July, the anniversary of the Ba'ath Party taking power in 1968. After the invasion, 9 April was floated and foundered on whether the fall of Baghdad had been a liberation.

A bill to fix 3 October as the national day reached parliament in 2008 and failed. Twelve years later the Council of Ministers decided it without one.

TIMELINE

Timeline

Mesopotamia becomes an A mandate

The former Ottoman territory was designated on 25 April, though it was never strictly administered as a mandate.

Britain names the exit year

On 4 November the British government told the League it would recommend Iraq for admission in 1932.

A 25-year alliance is signed

The Anglo-Iraqi treaty of alliance signed at Baghdad on 30 June was written to run from the day the mandate ended.

The Assembly votes Iraq in

Admission was voted unanimously on 3 October, and the mandated status of Iraq terminated that day.

A national day bill fails

Parliament was asked to fix 3 October as the national day and did not pass it.

The holidays law leaves it out

Official Holiday Law No. 12 of 2024 took effect on 27 May, and 3 October is nowhere in the list of public holidays it sets.

BY THE NUMBERS

Iraq Independence Day by the Numbers

11: Annual occasions in Iraq's holidays law
7 days: Yearly cap on temporary cabinet holidays
10 yrs: Anglo-Iraqi judicial regime kept after 1932
63: States in the League's full membership list

The cabinet designated October 3 of every year as Iraq's National Day to celebrate and mark the independence of Iraq and the end of the British mandate.

Office of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-KadhimiGovernment of Iraq, September 2020

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about Iraq Independence Day

Washington filed an objection it had no vote to make

The United States never joined the League, but it insisted that its claim to be consulted on how mandates end should go on the record. Britain sent the correspondence to the League Secretary-General on 11 October 1932, eight days after Iraq was admitted.

Iraq was the first Arab state seated at the League

The Iraqi foreign ministry makes the claim, and the State Department membership list carries no earlier Arab entry: the next one is Egypt, on 26 May 1937.

The paperwork closed two weeks after the vote

The Assembly's Sixth Committee reported on 1 October 1932, and Foreign Minister Jaafar al-Askari wrote to the League Secretary-General on 17 October acknowledging that Iraq had been told of the decision.

The Kurds objected because of a death on the date

Al Majalla reports that the Kurds objected to the choice because former President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, died on 3 October 2017.

The 2024 holidays law was a fight over a different day

Former Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi called the inclusion of Eid al-Ghadeer unpatriotic and said it might harm the national fabric. October 3 was not in the bill at all.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why Iraq Independence Day Matters

LAW

The day exists by cabinet decision, not by statute.

Iraq's national day rests on a Council of Ministers decision, and the Iraqi legal expert Ali al-Tamimi said in 2025 that parliament had still passed no legislation on it. The 2024 holidays law lets the cabinet declare temporary holidays for special occasions, and that is the only door 3 October can come through.

IDENTITY

Iraqis still argue about which date is theirs

Some hold that 14 July 1958, the revolution that ended the monarchy, is the real national day, on the ground that the 1932 accession came bound to a treaty that kept Iraq inside British influence. Others told Al Jazeera in 2025 that marking the day is a national duty.

DIPLOMACY

The date the world writes to Iraq on

Whatever its standing at home, 3 October is the fixed point of Iraq's diplomatic calendar. Secretary of State Marco Rubio marked the 93rd anniversary in 2025, and Antony Blinken the ninetieth before him.

GET INVOLVED

How to Observe Iraq Independence Day

Read the holidays law for yourself

The Iraqi Ministry of Justice published its own English translation of Official Holiday Law No. 12 of 2024. It runs to six pages, and Article 1 carries the entire list of public holidays.

TRACE

Trace the vote in the League record

The State Department's League of Nations compilation lists every member and its entry date, with Iraq at 3 October 1932. The same page carries the treaty chain that led there.

OPEN

Open the Geneva documents Iraq published

In 2021 the Iraqi foreign ministry released archive material from Geneva, including the application signed by Nuri al-Said. The images sit alongside the ministry's own account of how the admission came about.

COMPARE

Compare the rival national dates

Iraqis have marked 17 July, 9 April and 14 July at different points, and the argument is still live. Al Jazeera's 2025 report from Baghdad collects the cases people make for each.

CHECK

Check whether offices are actually closed

Because the day off comes from a cabinet decision rather than the holidays law, it is not guaranteed from one year to the next. In 2023 the prime minister announced the closure on 26 September, a week ahead of the date.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know Iraq Independence Day?

1 / 8

Which body voted to admit Iraq on 3 October 1932?

Answer

Not by law. Official Holiday Law No. 12 of 2024 lists the country's annual public holidays and 3 October is not one of them, so a day off depends on the Council of Ministers declaring a temporary holiday, as the prime minister did in 2023.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

16sources

9primary records

15independently dated

Primary records

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian1947

The Covenant of the League of Nations (Art. 1 to 26), FRUS: The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume XIII

The League's full membership list, with Iraq entered at 3 October 1932.