The Iraqi government is moving to restrict the activities of foreign military advisers, including Iranian officers, after Sept. 30, a date that Baghdad considers an important milestone in consolidating its sovereignty, a senior Iraqi military official told MBN.
The official said that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is pushing the new rules, which would come into effect on the same day the U.S.-led international coalition’s mission in Iraq ends. Sept. 30 was also the deadline for Iran-backed factions to turn over their weapons to the government, although MBN reported earlier this week that talks between the government and the militias would likely continue beyond that date.
The end of the coalition’s mission should coincide with “the end of any other justification for the presence of any foreign person in Iraq,” the official who spoke with MBN said.
Under the proposal, any foreign military official or adviser would have to request a visit through official channels and obtain an entry visa. Any meetings with Iraqi officials would also have to be arranged in advance, the official said.
Maan al-Jubouri, a former adviser to Iraq’s Defense Ministry, said the government will have difficulty blocking the entry of Iranian officials, given the support for Iran within Iraq, particularly in many of its armed factions.
“I doubt al-Zaidi has the ability to do so,” Jubouri said. “Even if he issues an order barring them, he will run into political forces and factions.”
Jubouri said the government may end up focusing on getting prior approval for visits without pushing for an outright ban, a middle ground that is likely more politically tenable.
The prime minister’s office has not publicly announced a decision on the measures, and the Iraqi government has not formally confirmed that they have been adopted.
The proposed restrictions follow a series of unannounced visits by Iranian military officials and allegations that Iranian forces have used Iraqi territory to stage attacks on other countries and U.S. forces in the region.
For example, an initial Iraqi investigation found that drones used in an attack on Saudi Arabia last week were launched from Iraq’s Maysan province, across the border from Iran.
Baghdad responded by temporarily closing the border although it has since been reopened. Iraq and Iran have formed a joint committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack.
Senior Iranian military officials have also traveled to Iraq to meet with Tehran-aligned groups. The visits increased in frequency after Iran’s war with the United States and Israel began on Feb. 28.
MBN has learned that Gen. Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, has entered Iraq at least three times since al-Zaidi took office on May 14, including two visits that were not publicly announced. The United States designates the Quds Force as a terrorist organization.
During one visit, Qaani asked leaders of Tehran-aligned factions, including those designated as terrorist organizations by the United States, not to hand over their weapons to the Iraqi government, according to sources who previously spoke to MBN.
On July 29, five advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in U.S. and Saudi strikes targeting positions held by Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq, according to sources who spoke to MBN. The sources also said the advisers had been staying at the Abu Montazer al-Mohammadi camp in Diyala province, near the Iranian border.
In March, Iraqi sources told MBN that an Iranian adviser working with armed Shiite factions and four other Iranians were killed in a strike targeting a house in Baghdad’s Jadriya district. At the time, MBN had no information establishing whether the adviser’s presence in Iraq had been officially authorized by the Iraqi government or had occurred outside government channels.
An Iraqi official told MBN in May that “some Iranian advisers entered Iraq without entry visas.”
Reports of unannounced visits to Iraq by Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials have surfaced repeatedly over the years.
Among those visitors have been Qaani and, before him, former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.
Such visits have often taken place without public announcements and have included meetings with political and security officials as well as leaders of armed factions. Neither the Iraqi nor Iranian sides have typically disclosed details of the visits or their itineraries.
Shaho al-Qardaghi, an international relations researcher from the Kurdistan region in Iraq, said requiring prior approval for entry into the country “can be described as an affirmation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
The measure, if implemented, “could contribute to unifying security and military decision-making and preventing multiple channels of influence or decisions affecting Iraqi sovereignty from being made outside the federal government,” he said.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
