Political and economic sources in Iraq told Alhurra that Iraqi politicians and businessmen provided cash support to Iran during the recent conflict. The assistance, they said, extended beyond direct financial contributions to include major government contracts awarded to Iraqi front companies allegedly operating on behalf of Iranian firms or networks linked to them.
Information obtained by Alhurra from official and unofficial sources points to two parallel channels of support: cash transfers crossing the border and government contracts worth billions of dollars that Iraqi intermediaries allegedly secured for the benefit of Iranian companies or affiliated networks.
Iraq has long been viewed in political and economic circles as a critical outlet for Iran in the face of international sanctions. However, sources described a more direct level of assistance in recent months, involving dollar-denominated cash transfers and contracts in the electricity, construction and banking sectors. According to these accounts, Iraqi entities were used to conceal the identities of the ultimate beneficiaries.
An Iraqi source with ties to figures inside the Iran-aligned Coordination Framework said an Iraqi businessman donated roughly $200 million during the 12-day war. The source added that the businessman later assumed a position within the Iraqi state apparatus. According to the same source, he holds major government contracts and has secured large projects over the years with the backing of Iraqi political forces allied with or close to Iran.
Sources said some of the funds were transported in cash across land borders in areas where armed factions wield significant influence, while other sums were allegedly transferred through commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Alhurra was unable to independently verify the route of the funds or their full volume. The network also allegedly included Sunni businessmen and political figures, according to Iraqi officials familiar with the matter.
Alhurra is withholding the names of several individuals mentioned in the information it reviewed for legal and editorial reasons, as those individuals have not directly responded to the allegations.
A senior Iraqi official familiar with the matter said the list of contributors included prominent Sunni businessmen, among them the owner of one of Baghdad’s best-known hotels and another businessman who controls government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. A source within the Coordination Framework said the donations were not coordinated through a single channel but were made individually, with some donors unaware of one another’s involvement. The source added that a Western government provided an Iraqi Shiite political leader with a list of donors through a European ambassador.
According to the information obtained by Alhurra, the donations also involved figures and organizations linked to Iran-backed armed factions, including Kataib al-Imam Ali, led by Shibl al-Zaidi, and Harakat al-Nujaba, headed by Akram al-Kaabi. Iraqi political sources said the participation of some Sunni figures was not necessarily driven by ideology but, in certain cases, reflected efforts to build influence within Iraq’s Shiite-led governing establishment through Tehran or Iraqi groups aligned with it.
Electricity Contracts
Political and economic sources said support for Iran was not limited to cash. Ahead of Iraq’s parliamentary elections in November 2025—which were won by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition—two major electricity-sector contracts were awarded.
On paper, the contracts went to a senior Popular Mobilization Forces leader and a well-known Iraqi businessman active in the electricity sector. However, sources told Alhurra that the companies that received the contracts were local fronts for Iranian firms subject to international sanctions.
Asked about the allegations, an official from the office of a former Iraqi prime minister said that contracts are awarded to companies that are legally registered and publicly identified, adding that oversight bodies—not contracting authorities—are responsible for determining the identity of the ultimate beneficiaries.
Current and former officials told Alhurra that this reflects a central weakness in Iraq’s contracting system: companies may be legally registered inside Iraq while their true ownership structures or links to foreign firms and sanctioned entities remain largely outside public scrutiny.
Sources said Iranian influence in Iraq now extends well beyond the energy sector into banking, construction and government contracting. One Iraqi official familiar with the issue said some of these networks have helped Tehran move funds and recycle profits beyond the reach of U.S. oversight mechanisms. Alhurra said it is withholding additional details about the networks pending responses from the parties concerned.
The “Mapna” Model
The case of Iran’s Mapna Group illustrates how Iranian companies have entered the Iraqi market through sectors that appear developmental in nature while providing Tehran with long-term influence over Iraq’s infrastructure, according to Iraqi sources.
Founded in 1993, Mapna is one of Iran’s largest energy companies. The company was placed under U.S. sanctions in March 2018 over allegations related to cyber activities conducted on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
A former Iraqi lawmaker told Alhurra that Mapna expanded its footprint in Iraq after 2014, when the Islamic State seized large parts of the country and many Western investors hesitated to enter the Iraqi market. The former legislator said the company presented itself as a partner capable of rapidly executing energy projects at a time when Iraq faced acute electricity shortages and as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program were gaining momentum.
He added that a Jordanian-registered company owned by Iraqi individuals acted as a front for Iranian firms that secured contracts to construct government buildings in Iraq.
The sources did not argue that all contracts involving Iranian companies in Iraq are illegal. Rather, an Iraqi official familiar with the matter said the concern is that some contracts may be used to enable sanctioned companies to operate through local intermediaries or to recycle profits through Iraq’s financial system.
In this account, Iraq emerges not merely as a neighboring market for Iran but as a financial and political arena in which networks of businessmen, armed factions and political parties operate across the Baghdad-Tehran axis. While military strikes were placing pressure on Iran from abroad, the sources said, part of the support came from inside Iraq—in cash, through contracts and via front companies that are difficult to trace.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
Mustafa Saadoon
Mustafa Saadoon is an Iraqi journalist who has worked for several international and Arab media organizations. He covers politics and human rights.
