Top Iranian commander visited Iraq to discuss disarmament plan: Source

What the report says

Baghdad-based reporting from Al Jazeera says Esmail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made an unannounced trip to Baghdad earlier this week. The account comes from an Iraqi source inside the Coordination Framework, a bloc of Shia parties, who said Qaani met political and security figures and Shia militia commanders on Monday.

According to the source, the meetings focused on the Iraqi government’s plan to restrict weapons to state control and disarm armed groups. The source said Tehran’s message, carried through Qaani, was that factions should not hand over their weapons at this stage, and instead should seek a political compromise. The reported Iranian position reflects concern that the situation could deteriorate into a new round of fighting.

The article places the visit amid rising pressure on Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government as a Sept. 30 deadline approaches for bringing all weapons under state authority. Al-Zaidi has also been working on legislation and talks related to the future of armed groups, some of which have said they are willing to integrate into official forces while others, including Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, remain resistant.

Al Jazeera also noted that Iraqi political leaders are divided over using force to enforce the plan, while some figures are trying to reduce tensions and avoid confrontation. The broader issue matters because it affects Iraq’s internal security, its ties with Iran and the United States, and the risk that armed groups could deepen regional instability.