DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Abu Ali al-Askeri, spokesperson for the Kataib Hezbollah, said on Friday during an election campaign rally that the Shiites hold “full guardianship” over Iraq, emphasizing that the group’s weapons will never be surrendered or controlled by politicians. 

Speaking at an election campaign event for the Hoquq Movement, the Kataib Hezbollah’s parliamentary wing, Askeri asserted that “full guardianship over Iraq is for the Shiites, whether anyone likes it or not.”

“Our weapons will remain in our hands … whoever sees our rifles will be killed by them, and they will never be raised against Iraq,” said Askeri, warning that “no one will be able to see our rifles and remain on his path, either he will go to a wretched fate or live safely and peacefully in this country.”

Askeri said that the group’s weapons had not been used in the past two years “because, thanks to the efforts of Iraqi fighters, we played a sovereign and central role in striking all American occupation bases with ballistic missiles, explosives, and unmanned aerial vehicles.”

“We say it clearly and fear nothing,” he continued. “We did not use weapons with ranges under a thousand kilometers, the range has even increased. We smashed the American strongholds in the region and also struck the Israeli fortresses in the Zionist entity, on our occupied land in Palestine. We contributed directly to these operations and do not fear anyone but God.”

Askeri described the Shiite resistance as a source of pride: “When we talk about resistance and the power of the Shiite weapon, we speak with pride and without concealment. They talk about controlling it, yes, they want to control the weapon, but this weapon is legitimate, disciplined, and knows when, where, and how to be used.”

“This weapon is not governed by politicians’ standards,” he said, concluding his speech. “It will remain in the hands of the Shiites.”

Askeri's address is built on a series of statements by Kataib Hezbollah since early October that positioned the group at the forefront of the “resistance” front against Israel and the United States.

The paramilitary group were designated as a terrorist organization by the US in 2009, and have since been the subject of several US sanctions. Washington has repeatedly called on the disarmament of armed group’s within Iraq, claiming that the presence of such factions undermine Iraq’s sovereignty. 

The US Department of the Treasury in October announced the imposition of sanctions on the Muhandis General Company and three Iraqi bank executives, accusing them of laundering money for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-backed militias in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, in extension of the country’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran.

On October 5, the faction condemned US President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to end the Gaza war, accusing Washington of enabling “Zionist barbarity” and describing the initiative as “full of traps.”

The group said the proposal was “more extreme than the positions of Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich,” while voicing trust in Palestinian resistance leaders to achieve eventual liberation.

The statement urged Arab and Islamic countries to support the Palestinian people and defend “their right to live with dignity on their ancestral land.” It reflected the same defiant tone and anti-US messaging that Askeri later repeated in his campaign speech, where he boasted of attacks on American and Israeli targets and insisted that Shiite factions would retain their weapons.