BAGHDAD, Iraq – Powerful Iran-backed groups operating under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have agreed to a deal to bring their weapons under state control, contingent on Baghdad and Washington fulfilling their obligations under the deal, Ali al-Assadi, political council chief of the prominent faction Harakat al-Nujaba, told The New Region. 

In an exclusive video interview with The New Region earlier this week, Assadi detailed the four armed factions involved in the talks, their conditions for the agreement, and the commitments they had accepted. 

The deal’s broad outlines include the handover of the factions’ entire weapons stockpile, including ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones, and determining the future of their fighters. 

Negotiations are ongoing, and the deal’s implementation hinges on the parties involved honoring their mutual commitments, according to Assadi.

“None [of the factions] have been left out, including Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba,” Assadi said. “The agreement involves all four factions.”    

Harakat al-Nujaba is a crucial component of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella of Iran-backed Shiite factions that are linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s broader “Axis of Resistance.” 

Alongside Nujaba, the other main factions are Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, in addition to other smaller groups. 

The Iraqi government has launched a renewed drive to bring weapons under state control, an initiative that has met fierce defiance from the IRI’s factions, namely Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba. Tensions brought the factions and Baghdad to the brink of armed confrontation in August, before a mutually acceptable agreement was struck. 

The agreement was mediated by the Coordination Framework, Iraq’s ruling Shiite political alliance that also includes many Iran-backed political forces. Asadi said that the Framework acted as an intermediary between Baghdad and the armed factions through representatives of both sides.

Assadi’s account sheds new light on the factions’ positions on the agreement and contradicts earlier statements by Iraqi and US officials which had suggested that Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba had remained outside the negotiations.

Weapons, Deadlines, Guarantees

Since April 2025, the Iraqi government has faced intensifying international and regional pressure to rein in Shiite armed factions’ military activities, following their involvement in attacks targeting neighbouring countries and US military bases in Iraq and across the region in support of Iran. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took office in May, pledged to bring all weapons under state control by the end of September. His proposed deadline, the terms of his plan, and his forceful rhetoric heightened tensions, with factions determined to preserve their autonomy.

The truce between the Iraqi government and the factions became the first step toward easing tensions and opening the way for negotiations. Under its terms, the groups halted all military operations inside and outside Iraq from September 1.

The first phase ran until October 1, followed by a second phase set to end on December 1, during which the factions were to “monitor the completion of the US withdrawal and departure of Turkish and other foreign troops from Iraq,” according to Asadi. 

“There are agreed timelines, and we are waiting to see how far they are implemented and what happens on the ground,” he said. 

“We are committed to everything stipulated in the document.” 

The halt in operations was in exchange for assurances that neither the US nor Israel would target the factions, their commanders, and headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). 

The PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi, was originally formed in June 2014 following a religious call, or fatwa, by Iraq’s top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, after the Islamic State (ISIS) captured large swathes of territory in Iraq. 

While the PMF was integrated into Iraq’s security apparatus in 2016, many of its groups maintain strong ties to Iran. The IRI’s four main factions are also part of the PMF.

“The truce, as the document makes clear, is a commitment by both sides: neither America nor the Zionist entity should target the resistance, and the resistance should not carry out operations,” Assadi asserted. 

The agreement, which took effect on September 30, divides responsibilities among the Iraqi government, the armed factions, and parliament. The armed factions have committed to placing decisions on war and peace exclusively in the hands of Iraq’s constitutional institutions and bringing their weapons under state control within a legal framework overseen by the PMF Commission. 

The government is responsible for removing all foreign military forces from Iraq, addressing the presence of foreign armed groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region, and strengthening Iraq’s air defense systems. Parliament is expected to amend the PMF law.

US-led international coalition forces, whose withdrawal was also covered by the agreement, have already left Iraq.

If it holds, the agreement could mark the end of more than two decades of military autonomy for Iraq’s powerful Shiite armed factions, bringing their weapons and military activities under state control. 

The first major dispute emerged before the talks began, centring on the process's terminology and timeline. The government initially called for restricting weapons by September 30, a formula the factions rejected. 

Asadi said the timeline was extended because negotiations over the details were still ongoing and the parties needed time to assess progress in meeting the factions’ demands and implementing the agreement. 

“After discussions…we concluded that neither the deadline was appropriate, as the time frame was too short, nor was the term,” Asadi said. “The closest term we agreed on was organizing weapons.” 

“Negotiations over the details are still ongoing. Every provision implemented [by the government] must be matched by a commitment from the other side [the factions],” he continued.

The agreement also addresses the future of the factions’ fighters. According to Asadi, those with civilian backgrounds will return to civilian life, while those with military experience will join the army or security institutions.

“All resistance and liberation movements around the world emerged because of occupation. When the occupation ends, they will move on to other roles,” Asadi said, with the groups long labeling foreign military presence in Iraq as an “occupation.” 

“As a resistance faction [Nujaba] made up of people with different skills, each will return to their original profession from before the occupation. In other words, they will reintegrate into society,” he stressed. 

The fate of the factions’ weapons remains one of the most sensitive issues in the agreement. Under its terms, the factions are to hand over their entire arsenals, including ballistic missiles and drones, to the PMF Commission, Asadi said.

“These weapons were acquired to safeguard the dignity of the state and will ultimately be transferred to a place where they can be kept securely," he stated. 

The factions’ commitment to the agreement depends on the parties involved fulfilling their obligations, with guarantors expected to intervene to prevent violations.

Asadi described every provision as a “red line,” warning that any breach by any of the parties concerned would jeopardize the deal. 

“Under the agreed document, no weapons will remain outside state control after July 30, 2027, provided the agreement is not breached,” Asadi affirmed. “The Iraqi government is the guarantor of America, and America must guarantee Israel’s compliance.” 

“If Israel seeks to end the agreement, or if America fails to ensure Israel’s compliance or breaches the deal itself, we will be free of our commitments.”