Iraq discusses storing armed groups’ weapons in Iran — Asharq Al-Awsat
Iraq’s ruling Shiite coalition is discussing the possibility of transferring the weapons of influential armed groups to Iran for storage. This was reported by Asharq Al-Awsat, citing informed sources. The issue of disarmament was not mentioned in the official statement following the coalition’s weekly meeting.
Work of three committees
The statement after the meeting, attended by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, referred to the law on the Popular Mobilization Forces, the oil and gas law, and the formation of the government. According to the publication’s political sources, the absence of any mention of weapons is linked to the work of three committees that the Coordination Framework created to resolve the issue of placing all weapons under state control.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that most leaders of political parties both within and outside the Coordination Framework support the state’s exclusive control over weapons. At the same time, the committees, according to the sources, prefer to work without public statements and media attention.
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Position of the groups
The publication’s sources linked the repeated refusal of three groups — Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada — to disarm to their desire to obtain guarantees against persecution or political exclusion. They also assessed this refusal as a negotiating tactic ahead of the next talks after September 30.
According to the sources, September 30 has been set as the deadline for the withdrawal from Iraq of the US-led international coalition forces and for the groups to lay down their weapons. The Coordination Framework, the publication’s interlocutors claim, considered the option of storing the arsenal in Iran, as Tehran allegedly supplied most of the weapons. According to them, this also concerns some long-range missiles that are not in the Iraqi armed forces’ inventory. The sources also said that representatives of the Coordination Framework fear US sanctions and Washington’s reaction, as it insists on a swift resolution of the issue.
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