{"id":246362,"date":"2026-08-12T15:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/246362\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T15:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:51:07","slug":"irgc-qods-force-commander-qaani-travels-to-iraq-amid-pressure-over-militia-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/246362\/","title":{"rendered":"IRGC-Qods Force commander Qaani travels to Iraq amid pressure over militia weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi meets with Iraq\u2019s Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee August 11. (Iraqi Prime Minister\u2019s Office on X<\/a>) <\/p>\n

Gen. Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), traveled<\/a> to Iraq on August 10. The trip took place as Iraq is drafting<\/a> a law to confine weapons to the state, which could sideline powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militias that have carried out numerous attacks within Iraq and regionally. Iraqi militias recently targeted<\/a> Saudi Arabia, setting off a crisis<\/a> between Riyadh and Baghdad.<\/p>\n

Qaani has traveled to Baghdad in the past<\/a> amid Iran\u2019s attempt to influence politics in Iraq. \u201cAn informed source told Kurdistan24 that Qaani is leading a high-level military and security delegation and has already met with figures from the Coordination Framework [the leading Shiite political bloc], including Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri, as Baghdad approaches a Sept. 30 deadline to place all weapons under state control,\u201d the Erbil-based Kurdistan24 reported<\/a> on August 11.<\/p>\n

Alhurra also reported on the importance of the Qaani visit, noting<\/a> the importance of its timing: \u201cQaani arrived with just 50 days remaining before a Sept. 30 deadline set by the Iraqi government for armed factions to surrender their weapons, as Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi seeks to bring all arms under state control and Tehran moves to prevent the effort from triggering a confrontation with its Iraqi allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to meeting with members of the Coordination Framework to discuss militia weapons, Qaani also discussed<\/a> Iraq\u2019s exports of oil through<\/a> the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq has been unable to export oil through the waterway since February due to the Iranian blockade and the US-Iran conflict.<\/p>\n

The meetings occurred as Iraq moves forward with a law to confine<\/a> arms to the hands of the state. \u201cIraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Tuesday directed the security and defense committee to prepare a draft law to confine weapons to the hands of the state, aiming to consolidate control over armed factions amid heightened regional military escalations and an upcoming US coalition withdrawal,\u201d the Rudaw Media Network reported<\/a> on August 12. Zaidi met with Iraq\u2019s Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee recently to direct<\/a> them to prepare the law.<\/p>\n

The new law is supposed to mandate state control of arms by September 30. US forces, deployed to Iraq as part of the coalition mission against the Islamic State, are also expected<\/a> to leave Iraq by September 30. The practical steps of how Iraq will confine weapons to state control or control Iranian-backed militias are unclear. On August 7, Iraq\u2019s Shafaq News noted<\/a> the complex road ahead for Baghdad in seeking to deal with the various Iranian-backed militias.<\/p>\n

Iran continued its attacks during the week of Qaani\u2019s visit. On August 11, Iran targeted<\/a> the Kurdish Iranian opposition group Komala in Alana valley of Erbil province, injuring several of its members in a missile attack.<\/p>\n

On August 12, Iran also conducted drone attacks near Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. \u201cAt least four Iranian drones crashed in three locations across Erbil province early Wednesday, including near civilian homes, after Iran launched a series of strikes targeting positions of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in Alana Valley,\u201d Rudaw noted<\/a>. These attacks targeted<\/a> Komala and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). <\/p>\n

Iran and Iranian-backed groups have carried<\/a> out more than 1,000 attacks on the autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq since February.<\/p>\n

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD\u2019s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).<\/p>\n

Tags: Esmail Qaani<\/a>, Iran<\/a>, Iran-Iraq<\/a>, Iraq<\/a>, Iraqi militias<\/a>, IRGC-QF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi meets with Iraq\u2019s Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee August 11. (Iraqi Prime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[13413,34,6957,94,2556,27960],"class_list":["post-246362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-esmail-qaani","tag-iran","tag-iran-iraq","tag-iraq","tag-iraqi-militias","tag-irgc-qf"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117083340144359873","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}