Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf urged Iraqi leaders during a meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday to delay plans to disarm Iran-aligned militias, warning that the move would expand U.S. influence in the country.
Qalibaf instead proposed that Iraq’s ruling Coordination Framework allow the armed factions to keep their weapons or deposit them with the Popular Mobilization Forces, three sources familiar with the matter told MBN.
The PMF are a state institution that operate under the authority of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. They include Shiite factions regarded as aligned with Iran. Under Qalibaf’s plan, the outside groups would still have access to the arms when needed. He didn’t explain, however, who would be responsible for storing the weapons or under what circumstances they could be returned to the factions, a member of the Coordination Framework told MBN.
Al-Zaidi has told the Trump administration that his government would bring all weapons under its control by Sept. 30, which is also the date U.S.-led coalition forces are expected to exit the country.
With the U.S. at war with Iran, the White House has pressured Baghdad to rein in armed factions close to Tehran, putting Iraq, an ally to both countries, in a difficult position. The U.S. says these groups have attacked American installations in the country and threaten Iraq’s stability.
The member of the Coordination Framework told MBN that Qalibaf said he agreed that the weapons should be collected by the state “but not now.” Qalibaf also said that the groups supporting Iran are not acting against the Iraqi state but against what he called the “American occupation,” the Coordination Framework member told MBN.
An Iraqi lawmaker who was briefed on the meeting said Qalibaf warned that Iraq was “not far from any danger” and accused the United States and Israel of seeking to bring the country under their influence.
The lawmaker said that Qalibaf noted how American and Israeli aircraft had used Iraqi airspace to strike Iran and linked those operations to the need for the armed militias to retain access to their weapons.
Qalibaf’s message echoed one delivered to Baghdad nine days earlier by Gen. Esmail Ghaani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, though the two men carried their messages to different audiences. Ghaani met directly with faction leaders, whom he urged to keep their weapons, according to sources who previously spoke with MBN.
Qalibaf’s visit came at the formal invitation of Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi. A Coordination Framework source said some of its leaders regard Qalibaf as one of the most prominent representatives of Iran’s new leadership and believe the positions he conveys reflect the views of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Qalibaf arrived in Baghdad Wednesday morning, along with other senior parliamentary officials, for a three-day visit. He was received by Deputy Parliament Speaker Adnan Faihan, a leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a faction designated as a terrorist organization by Washington that has previously announced that it would turn its weapons over to the government.
After arriving, Qalibaf visited the site near Baghdad International Airport where Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, were killed in a U.S. strike in 2020.
Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has said the Iraqi government will not allow any weapons to remain outside its institutions after the Sept. 30 deadline, citing understandings reached with several factions.
Al-Zaidi has told security forces at several meetings to prepare to carry out his orders if the factions refuse to hand over their weapons.
Two groups — Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali — announced on June 2 that they were severing links with Popular Mobilization Forces and beginning steps to bring weapons under state control.
Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Harakat al-Nujaba, by contrast, continue to hold on to their weapons. All five factions are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
