The push to bring Iran-backed militias under Iraqi state control has hit a public stumbling block. The militias in question are the Popular Mobilization Units, or PMU: state-affiliated armed factions that operate inside Iraq with documented ties to Iran. A senior Iraqi official said in late August that September 30 is not a deadline for those groups to hand over weapons, directly contradicting signals Baghdad had sent only days before.
Qasim al-Araji, security advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, told state broadcaster Al Iraqiya on August 23 that September 30 marks the departure of the U.S.-led international coalition that dismantled the Islamic State, not a weapons handover date. Days earlier, an Iraqi government representative told Fox News Digital that all political forces agreed on moving weapons under state authority. Al-Zaidi said the same at the Baghdad Dialogue Conference. What was stated, and what had actually been carried out, remained two different things as of late August.
What the militias have actually done
Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite cleric who leads the Saraya al-Salam armed group, said in May that he favored integration into the state. Some other factions, including Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali, issued statements indicating they would hand over weapons. But Entifadh Qanbar, a former spokesman for Iraq's deputy prime minister during the Bush administration, told Fox News Digital there is no credible evidence any disarmament has occurred. Hardline groups including Kataeb Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba declared they will not disarm at all. Qanbar also cited multiple reports indicating that IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani visited Baghdad and instructed militia leaders to reject the September 30 deadline and hold their weapons as part of Iran's regional posture.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a senior non-resident fellow at the New Lines Institute in Washington, said the Iraqi government has made genuine attempts but that the militias are willing to use force against security forces and the state repeatedly backs down. She said the militias have penetrated most state institutions. Kata'ib Hezbollah, designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, kidnapped Tsurkov in 2023 and held her for nearly two years. The Trump administration secured her release in 2025.
A recent arrest showed the power gap plainly. Iraq's Counter Terrorism Service detained Abbas al-Yaqubi, the head of intelligence for the PMU's Baghdad Belt Operations Command. Within days, he was transferred out of government custody to the PMU's own intelligence branch.
On the financial side, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly, Iraq's deputy minister of oil, in May, citing alleged diversion of Iraqi oil revenue to Iran and its proxy militias. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the Iranian regime as pillaging resources belonging to the Iraqi people. In late August, Iraq's anti-corruption body sentenced al-Bahadly to seven years in prison and fined him millions of dollars for corruption.