This paper analyses the Iraqi intelligence agencies activities in Europe against dissidents during the Cold War. The historical analysis allows me to frame Iraq’s methods of repression in the Mukhabarat’s surveillance infrastructure. I argue that the Iraqi intelligence agencies used information gathering and violence as methods of social control. The use of repressive methods did not only take place in Iraq, but also in European countries. In this context, I speak of a transnationalization of raison d’état. I follow the concepts of Schmitt (1922), Meinecke (1924), Foucault (1978), Agamben (2005), Bigo (2019) and argue that Iraqi intelligence agencies used the exceptional remit of raison d’état to foster stability in Iraq. During the Cold War, Iraqi intelligence agencies enjoyed unlimited power in the repression of dissidents. This paper analyses the Iraqi surveillance activities in Europe and gives two arguments. First, I argue that information gathering on dissidents in Europe became a top priority for the Iraqi intelligence agencies. Here, I elaborate the activities of the Mukhabarat in Berlin as the centre of refuge for Iraqi dissidents and Hungary, a study hot spot for Iraqi communists during the Cold War. Second, I demonstrate that the Iraqi intelligence agencies made use of violence to enhance social control. I analyse the assassination of the former Iraqi prime minister Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif 1978 in London and the bomb attempt on the Kurdish Student Congress 1980 in Berlin. Research for this paper was conducted in the following archives: Hiẓb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī Records (Ba'ath Party Records), Politisches Archiv, Bundesarchiv, BND-Archiv. Keywords: Raison d’état, Iraq, Intelligence Agencies, Mukhabarat, Cold War, Iraqi communists, Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif, Kurdish Student Congress 1980