Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi sought on Monday to curb the powers of inf...
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi sought on Monday to curb the powers of influential Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim militias, a politically risky move apparently aimed at placating the United States.
Local officials blamed the Shi’ite militias for one of the incidents, but Iran has not commented. At a time of sharply heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had told Iraqi leaders during a surprise visit to Baghdad in May that if they failed to keep in check Iran-backed militias, the United States would respond with force.
An electoral alliance made up of militia leaders and fighters came second in a 2018 parliamentary election and went on alongside firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - whose political group came first - to jointly nominate Abdul Mahdi as premier. “What came from the prime minister on the PMF is an important thing and a correct first step towards building a strong state,” Sadr said in a statement.Qais al-Khazali, a prominent Iran-backed militia leader, also welcomed the move. Tensions between Washington and its Gulf Arab allies on one side and Tehran and its proxies in the region on the other, have been flaring for months, but Iran’s Iraqi allies have publicly spoken against the prospect of war.
“The conflict between the United States and Iran has made it so there are factions more inclined to rebel against the Iraqi state and the PMF law,” he said.
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