Footage circulated online by Iranian and Iraqi media outlets on Saturday and Sunday showed a convoy belonging to Hashd al-Shaabi<\/a>, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) of Iran-aligned fighters, entering Iran.<\/p>\n The convoy consisted of dozens of pickup trucks carrying packaged cargo, as well as men in military attire, some of whom also wore clerical turbans. The group waved the Iraqi flag, as well as the flag of Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah, another member of the\u00a0Tehran-led \u201caxis of resistance\u201d<\/a>\u00a0of armed forces.<\/p>\n The Fars news agency, affiliated with Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose Quds Force leads the axis, described the movement as \u201cthe first humanitarian aid convoy from the people of Iraq\u201d.<\/p>\n Al-Alam, the Arabic-language news channel run by Iranian state television, described the effort as a \u201cloyalty campaign\u201d and said it carried 70 tonnes of food and medical supplies. The Iranian government has repeatedly emphasised since the start of the war a month ago that the country does not face a shortage of essential goods.<\/p>\n The convoy started its journey from Basra in southern Iraq and crossed the border into Khuzestan in western Iran. It was spotted entering from Shalamcheh, a historic town on the border where invading Iraqi forces launched a deadly chemical gas attack during the eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the decades following the devastating war, and especially after the US invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s, the Iranian establishment grew close to armed factions in the neighbouring country, which became part of the anti-US and Israel regional axis.<\/p>\n During the journey this week, PMF fighters released videos in Abadan and Khorramshahr, as welcoming groups could be seen cheering them and Shia Muslim songs played in the background. The local Friday prayer imam was filmed exchanging warm greetings with the fighters and clerics while carrying a rifle himself as a sign of defiance during wartime.<\/p>\n The PMF, an umbrella group of armed factions that have now integrated into the regular Iraqi army, has claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and beyond and has itself been targeted.<\/p>\n There were unconfirmed reports and speculation online this week that some of the Iraqi forces had been spotted on the streets in Tehran, but there was no comment from Iranian authorities or any verified footage.<\/p>\n Such speculation is tied to years-long accusations that Iranian authorities use the PMF and other aligned armed groups to crack down on local dissent, including during nationwide protests, which the authorities have rejected.<\/p>\n The Basij paramilitary force of the IRGC and other security forces continue to set up heavily armed checkpoints and roadblocks on the streets in Tehran and other cities, and have launched a \u201ccampaign of warriors defending the homeland\u201d that is officially recruiting children over 12 years old<\/a>\u00a0for field activities.<\/p>\n Amid a month-long internet shutdown, Iranian authorities have warned against dissent while the US and Israel express varying interest in overthrowing the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve had regime change; we can\u2019t do much better than that,\u201d US President Donald Trump told reporters aboard his presidential plane on Monday. \u201cOne regime was decimated, destroyed; they\u2019re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead, and the third regime we\u2019re dealing with different people than anybody has ever dealt with before.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"PMF\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-03-24T101518Z_1206905465_RC2YAKAWZP08_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-CRISIS-IRAQ-1774884890.jpg\")
Members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces carry the coffins of colleagues killed during airstrikes on a PMF site in Iraq\u2019s western Anbar province, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 24, 2026 [Ahmed Saad\/Reuters]<\/p>\n