ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq's Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group on Sunday called for preparation for a "comprehensive war" in support of the Islamic Republic, amid mounting US pressure on Tehran and weeks-long nationwide protests.

"We address our call to our mujahideen brothers in the east and west of the earth ... to prepare for a comprehensive war in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the fortress and pride of the nation, which has stood for more than four decades alongside the oppressed and all the just causes of the nation of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family)" the group's Secretary General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement.

The statement came shortly after reports of the US' Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier having arrived in the Middle East and enter striking range of Iran, amid repeated threats by US President Donald Trump to intervene should the crack down on protesters escalate. On Thursday, Trump said that Washington has a “massive fleet” headed toward Iran “just in case."

The Oslo-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization earlier on Sunday said that Iranian authorities had killed at least 3,000 protesters during a crackdown on the nationwide riots, adding that a significant number of people had been injured, around 20,000 people had been arrested.

The Kataib Hezbollah leader said, "we affirm to the enemies that the war on the Republic will not be a picnic; rather, you will taste the bitterest forms of death, and nothing will remain of you in our region. (And We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.)"

The pro-Iran 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 group warned Iraqi politicians in December not to engage with US Special Envoy to Iraq Mark Savaya, stating that those who do will be branded as American “lackeys and tools” by the public.

Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups have claimed hundreds of attacks against Israeli and American targets after October 2023 and in response to the war in Gaza.

Washington has ramped up efforts to curb Tehran’s influence in Iraq, particularly by targeting Iran-backed militias, such as Kataib Hezbollah, as well as financial entities and networks who finance the militias and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).