Is Judaism openly practiced in Iran and Iraq?

Answer 1

The situation is very different between Iran and Iraq. Since there are functionally no Jews in Iraq (<10 people), there is no such thing as open practice. In Iran, while Judaism is practiced it has a number of state restrictions on what its message can be. Contrary to the Community Answer, Judaism is actually severely restricted or effectively banned in most Arab countries. Islamic countries outside of the Arab World are a little more lenient, but less than their apologists like to admit.

IRAQ
Iraq is much easier to explain. In 1940, Iraq had a Jewish population of 150,000-170,000 Jews. They were primarily concentrated in Baghdad and the surrounding area (affectionately called the Sunni-Triangle today). There was also a large minority of Kurdish Jews in what is now Iraqi Kurdistan. The Jews lived in Iraq as second-class citizens and had no representation in the monarchy. (To be fair, the Muslim population was not well-represented either.) Starting in 1941, strongly Anti-Semitic sentiments came to the fore in Iraq, resulting in the Farhud, the largest single pogrom in the Arab World, and a number of restrictive Anti-Jewish laws. From 1946-1950 there were a number of trials and tribulations through which Iraqi Jews were put that ultimately made them want to leave Iraq, even though it was illegal to do so (since the Iraqi government was afraid that they would help Israel in the Jewish-Arab Engagement of 1947-1949). In 1950, the Iraqi government rescinded the laws preventing Jewish flight, but made property forfeiture part of the right to departure. 80% of Iraq's Jewish community fled between 1950 and 1952 in spite of the restrictions and most went to Israel, while small communities also fled to the USA, UK, Canada, and France. Things for Jews improved under Abd el-Karim Qasim and the Arif brothers, before the arrival of Abu Bakr and Saddam Hussein. Saddam launched an Anti-Semitic campaign in the late 1970s against the remaining Jewish population, leading all who could to flee to neighboring Iran to get out. The Jewish community was effectively reduced to a few hundred people who were simply too elderly to start life over and endured the hardship that came their way. The Iraqi Jewish community (in exile) currently numbers 200,000 or so people, the majority of whom are in Israel.

IRAN
Iran fluctuated in its treatment of the Jews in modern times. Under the Shah, Iran was rather tolerant of its Jewish population and correspondingly, the Jewish population was rather loyal to the Shah. With the overthrow of the Shah and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the situation changed. Many Jews were afraid of recriminations, which for the most part did not come, but this led to a mass exodus of the Iranian Jewish community to both the US and Israel. Currently, less than 5% of the Persian Jewish community lives in Iran. The Islamic Republic recognized the right of some of its religious minorities, including the Jews, but not the Baha'i, to maintain their own houses of worship and pray freely. However, the Islamic Republic saw the Iranian Jewish population as a potential fifth column in Iran for Israel and sought to purge any strain of Zionism from that Jewish community. In order to do this, regulations have been passed forbidding any positive discussion of Zionism, textbooks in Jewish schools are monitored by the State, and every Jewish school must have a Shiite Muslim principal who can determine the curriculum (in order to prevent the intrusion of Zionism). These regulations have overreaching consequences and prevent Iranian Jews from truly manifesting unique temporal beliefs and views. While Iran does have a reserved seat in the Parliament for its Jewish population, the Supreme Council of Ayatollahs reviews the candidates for that seat and must approve candidacy, effectively minimalizing the individuality and representative quality of this Jewish representative and he is only really a mouthpiece for the regime.

Answer 2

Yes, Judaism is practiced openly in Iran and Iraq and all Muslim countries.