The Basra Reed Warbler breeds in Iraqi wetlands and winters in eastern Africa. Its breeding sites include extensive reed beds in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys.
It has a gray head, olive-brown back, white throat and underparts, and a long, narrow, pointed orange bill.
It lives among reeds and papyrus in or around shallow fresh or brackish water and feeds on insects.
A 2018 observation in southern Iraq recorded an adult singing in dense reeds and birds carrying nesting material into the reed bed.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.