Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, greets lawmakers at the first session of the newly elected parliament in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, July 1, 2014. Iraq’s new parliament ended its inaugural session Tuesday after failing to make any progress in choosing a new prime minister even as the country faces a militant blitz that threatens to rip it apart and a spike in violence that made June the deadliest month in at least two years. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)