What is the capital of Iraq?

The correct answer is Baghdad, the capital and largest city of Iraq. Situated on the banks of the Tigris river in the central part of the country, Baghdad has served as Iraq's seat of government since the modern state's formation in the twentieth century and, much earlier, as the celebrated capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, a centre of learning, trade and culture in the medieval Islamic world. Basra, the first distractor, is Iraq's main port city and second-largest city, strategically located near the Persian Gulf and vital for oil exports, but it has never functioned as the national capital. Mosul, the second distractor, is a major city in northern Iraq known for its historical significance and its Nineveh-era heritage, yet it too has no capital status. Erbil, the fourth option, is the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region within Iraq, not of the Iraqi state as a whole, and this distinction is precisely where many candidates go wrong: Erbil administers Iraqi Kurdistan, a federal region, while Baghdad remains the capital of the entire Republic of Iraq. This Baghdad-versus-Erbil confusion is a classic exam trap, since both cities genuinely hold capital status but at different administrative levels. The safe revision takeaway is to remember that Baghdad is Iraq's sole national capital, while Erbil is only the regional capital of Kurdistan, and Basra and Mosul are important non-capital cities valued respectively for trade and ports, and for history and heritage.