Iran Reportedly Getting Its Way In Negotiations Over Disarming Iraq’s Resistance Factions

Quds Force Commander Gen Qaani and other Iranian officials have been pushing Baghdad hard to give up its plans to disarm their allies the Resistance

  

In Iraq the debate over the future of the Resistance has gone from demanding they disarm to compromising with them. This is the result of constant Iranian pressure upon Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.

 

The first concession Baghdad made was to drop September 30 as the date that the Resistance was to give up their weapons. This happened after the Quds Force Commander General Ismail Qaani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammed Qalibaf and a representative of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei all had conversations with PM Zaidi and the ruling Coordination Framework. Not only that but Iranian representatives have regularly attended meetings of the Framework.

 

Premier Zaidi has also lost a key ally in his effort to put weapons under state control. Badr leader Hadi Amiri was acting as a mediator with the Resistance but he ended up aligning with them. That’s shown in Amiri’s recent statements where he repeated the Resistance demands that Turkey withdraw from Iraq, Iranian opposition parties be demobilized and more. These are all points that Kataib al-Shuhada put forward at the end of August. The prime minister was relying upon Amiri and his standing as an ally of Iran to sway the Resistance but now that support is gone.

 

The second and more important turn is that the government is reportedly going to allow the Resistance to store their weapons in their own depots. In return they promise not to carry out any operations. Part of this was presented to the Americans who rejected the idea, but that hasn’t stopped it from advancing within Iraq. Rather than the government having a monopoly on force this would maintain the status quo and allow the Resistance to use their guns anytime they wanted.

 

One of the reasons why Iran has gained the upper hand is that they have a plethora of friends in Iraq. that includes leading politicians, political parties, armed groups, bureaucrats and more. They are in constant contact with all of them as shown by the presence at Coordination Framework gatherings. The United States on the other hand who have demanded the Resistance disarm has only really used threats to achieve its goals. Sanctions and military strikes are the language of Washington. It has done little lobbying and its special representative to the country Tom Barrack is largely absent. The Americans don’t even have an ambassador in Baghdad. In the game of influence then the Trump administration has been sorely lacking.

 

SOURCES

 

Asharq Al-Awsat, “Iraqi Factions Set Conditions for Laying Down Arms,” 9/2/26

 

Al Mada, “After Targeting “Tishreen” Activists … Will the “Bats” Return to “Shadow” Missions After September 30?” 9/2/26

- “Behind the Scenes of Backing Away from the “September 30” Deadline: Two Heated Weeks of Uninterrupted Visits from Tehran to Baghdad,” 8/26/26

- “News Site: Armed Factions Propose Weapons in Their Own Depots Instead of Handling Them Over,” 8/31/26

 

Rudaw, “US rejects Iran-backed Iraq groups’ proposal to freeze arms: Sources,” 8/27/26

 

Shafaq News, “Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada sets conditions for weapons regulation,” 8/29/26