Abdul-Hussain to Arab News: Pro-Iran militia weight has shifted to Iraq
Iraq must rein in the sprawling network of militia groups that take their orders from Iran
LONDON - Arab News: It was a message that was both unequivocal and uncompromising. Iraq must rein in the sprawling network of militia groups that take their orders from Iran, and if they threaten American interests in the country, the US will respond.
The comments were delivered last week by Tammy Bruce, the US State Department spokesperson, in response to a question on a new law being wrangled over in Iraq about the future of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
“The Iraqi militias’ harassment of US targets in Iraq ended when the Biden administration took out three top commanders from the Kataib Hezbollah,” Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Arab News.
“This signaled to militia leaders that their safety became at risk and their attacks stopped.”
The second Trump administration made clear in February when it issued the National Security Presidential Memorandum that Iraq’s militias would be central to renewed pressure on Iraq to reduce economic ties to Iran.
The other front is for Iraq to reduce dollar transactions with Tehran, particularly through cutting purchases of energy.
But there is also the wider geopolitical pressure on the militias as a result of US and Israeli attacks on Iran’s other proxies in the region, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
“The Iraq militias became the last resort for all other Iranian militias across the region,” said Abdul-Hussain. “Since Israel crushed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, the pro-Iran militia weight has shifted to Iraq.”
On the economic pressure now being exerted on Iran, he said the US is aware that the IRGC is siphoning US dollars from Iraq’s oil revenues, mainly using the $3.3 billion budget allocated to the PMF.
In response to this renewed pressure, the PMF Service and Retirement Law was introduced to the Iraqi parliament last week after months of wrangling over its contents.
The bill aims to fully integrate the PMF into Iraq’s state security forces. However, critics say it has been hijacked by rival Shiite blocs jostling for advantage within the organization.
In its current form, the bill is unlikely to fill the US with confidence that the PMF will fully submit to central government control and renounce fealty to Iran. Abdul-Hussain described the bill as a “total smoke screen.”
He said: “Parliament is trying to enshrine PMF perks by law for fear that the next executive chief might not be Iran-friendly and could thus cut the $3.3 billion with a decree. Laws trump decrees, and that’s why the Iraqi parliament is racing to enshrine PMF funding in a law.
“The irony is that the same law does not demand that the organization follow a military order or be included under the military’s rank or supervision. They want to take the money but keep the hierarchy in the hands of the IRGC.”