![\"Mourners](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rcv.YNA.20260324.PRU20260324198901009_P1.jpg\")
Mourners carry the coffin of Saad al-Baiji, the Popular Mobilisation Forces’ Anbar operations commander, who was killed in airstrikes that targeted a PMF site in Iraq’s western Anbar province, during his funeral, in Baghdad, Tuesday. (Reuters-Yonhap) <\/p>\n
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq has long walked a tightrope between the competing interests of the US and its neighbor Iran, but the Middle East war is testing this delicate balancing act.<\/p>\n
Since the outbreak of war on Feb. 28, after US-Israeli strikes against Iran, strikes have targeted both US interests and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq.<\/p>\n
Baghdad has hardened its stance.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, it granted former paramilitary groups and pro-Iran factions within the formal popular mobilization forces the “right to respond in self defense” to attacks.<\/p>\n
But it also promised to prosecute groups targeting US interests. Can the balance survive as the conflict escalates?<\/p>\n
Bases hosting the Popular Mobilization Force, part of the regular army but containing some pro-Iran factions, have been targeted by airstrikes. The PMF has blamed these on the US and Israel.<\/p>\n
Some Iraqi pro-Iran factions, which have a presence within the PMF, have claimed daily attacks on US-linked bases and interests in Iraq and across the region.<\/p>\n
And Iran has carried out strikes against Kurdish opposition groups in autonomous northern Iraqi Kurdistan.<\/p>\n
Is Iraq’s delicate balancing act wavering?<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, authorities said they would summon the US charge d’affaires after a deadly strike targeting the PMF killed 15, and the Iranian ambassador over ballistic missile hits that killed six peshmerga fighters in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.<\/p>\n
“The government is in a precarious moment where it cannot engage in a conflict with the US, nor can it restrain the Iran-backed ‘resistance’ factions from launching attacks in the country and beyond,” said Tamer Badawi, of the security and defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute.<\/p>\n
Granting the former paramilitaries the power to respond is a calibrated act, he said. Baghdad permits the former paramilitaries to respond, knowing they likely lack sufficient equipment, he said, and promises to prosecute those attacking US interests.<\/p>\n
“Neither are really achievable,” Badawi said.<\/p>\n
Chatham House’s Hayder Al-Shakeri said it was harder for Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to sustain a balance between American partnership and Iranian ties.<\/p>\n
To do so, he said, “Baghdad needs to reinforce as much as possible the de-escalation.” That could prove difficult when pro-Iran groups are increasingly aggressive, and American strikes are expanding across Iraq.<\/p>\n
What are the American objectives?<\/p>\n
Since the start of the Middle East war, strikes against Iraqi pro-Iran groups have intensified.<\/p>\n
The PMF has condemned strikes against a western Iraqi base, where it operates alongside regular soldiers. Fifteen PMF fighters were killed Tuesday and seven security personnel on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Observers say the objective of the strikes — thought to be carried out by either the US or Israel — is to hinder drone and rocket attacks against Kurdistan and American and foreign troops in Iraq and the region.<\/p>\n
“The US has a target list, and it seems like they are hitting leadership and command nodes,” said Shakeri, characterising the strategy as one of “decapitation and network fragmentation.”<\/p>\n
How do the factions fit in?<\/p>\n
Around sixty factions make up the PMF, and a handful have a reputation for acting independently.<\/p>\n
Washington classifies some as “terrorist” organisations, part of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” which has claimed daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and the region.<\/p>\n
While the influential Hezbollah Kataeb has temporarily paused attacks against the US Embassy, they have called for the withdrawal of American troops deployed with an international anti-jihadist coalition.<\/p>\n
The current strikes may weaken the groups, said Shakeri, “but without a proper political strategy and a wider political strategy, it will produce fragmentation and chaos.” Iran has strong military and economic ties with them, Badawi said, and dismantling them required more than air strikes.<\/p>\n
The government effort is beyond Iraq’s current capabilities, he said, “without risking something that may resemble a civil war.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mourners carry the coffin of Saad al-Baiji, the Popular Mobilisation Forces’ Anbar operations commander, who was killed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[16235,34,94,2557,16234,153],"class_list":{"0":"post-36438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-factions","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-iraq","11":"tag-pmf","12":"tag-tightrope","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116293376547250823","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438","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=36438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}