Iraqi Minister of Culture Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani announced on Monday the seizure of 185 artifacts of Iraqi origin in the United Kingdom — a new step in Baghdad’s ongoing campaign to recover cultural treasures looted since 2003.

Speaking at a conference in Baghdad, Al-Badrani stated, as reported by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that “the cultural attaché in London informed us of the seizure of 185 artifacts, which experts have confirmed are of Iraqi origin.” He added that Iraq “is proud of its rich cultural heritage and will not allow thieves to erase or confiscate its antiquities.”

The announcement comes within the framework of a broad national initiative to reclaim artifacts smuggled abroad over past decades. According to earlier statements from the Ministry of Culture, Iraqi authorities have successfully recovered more than 40,000 rare artifacts over the last four years from countries including the United States, Italy, Lebanon, and the Netherlands.

Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Alyawi noted that some of the recovered pieces are “priceless,” citing, among them, the Gilgamesh Tablet—dating to around 3500 BC—and a golden Sumerian ram estimated to be 4,500 years old.

In December 2021, the United States returned to Iraq an ancient clay tablet inscribed with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which had been stolen from the Iraqi National Museum following the 2003 invasion.

During the conference, Minister Al-Badrani expressed gratitude to all parties who “contributed to the protection of Iraq’s antiquities and the prevention of their trafficking,” reaffirming that the ministry will continue its legal and diplomatic efforts to recover all looted cultural heritage.

In a related development, Qasim Taher Al-Sudani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture for Arts Affairs, stated that the conference coincided with Baghdad’s selection as the Arab Tourism Capital for 2025. He added that the conference would produce practical recommendations aimed at preserving Baghdad’s architectural identity and restoring its historical buildings.

Iraq’s cultural heritage has suffered severe losses due to widespread looting and destruction of museums and archaeological sites, particularly after the 2003 invasion and during ISIS’s occupation of northern and western cities in 2014. In recent years, however, the Iraqi government has intensified its collaboration with foreign governments and international cultural organizations to locate and repatriate stolen artifacts. The largest number of recovered antiquities have come from the United Kingdom and the United States, according to the Ministry of Culture.