Former Foreign Minister of Iraq and senior Kurdistan Democratic Party official Hoshyar Zebari in a post on X on May 27 underlined that attacks on restaurants hurt investment in Iraq, after U.S.-owned restaurants KFC and Chili House were attacked in Baghdad.

“There is a big inconsistency between the Iraqi government’s call on countries to invest in Iraq on the basis that it is stable and recovering and the recent attacks on the international and U.S.-owned restaurants KFC and Chili House in Baghdad by armed, unrestrained groups that do not accord with sound governmental orientation,” Zebari underlined. “Something isn’t right here.”

Mohammed Salih, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Kurdistan Chronicle that, regardless of the motives of the attackers, the “attacks challenge the narrative put forward by the government that Iraq is safe for foreign businesses and investors.” 

“They have put the government in a difficult and embarrassing position and authorities have said they will compensate the targeted restaurants. To be able to attract foreign businesses, the first fundamental step is ensuring their safety.

On May 26, two men on a motorcycle hurled a makeshift bomb at an KFC branch on Palestine Street in east Baghdad, causing minor damage, in protest over U.S. support for Israel.

On May 27, another KFC branch in Baghdad was vandalized by masked men.

Iraqi security forces have reportedly apprehended several suspects.