The Americans Are Gone. Will Iraq’s Militias Disarm?
On September 30, the US completed its military withdrawal from Iraq, ending a 12-year-long mission to combat ISIS that began in 2014. The date was also meant to be the deadline for disarming the largely Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), but Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has now pushed that cutoff back to June 30, 2027. MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Amb. (ret.) Robert S. Ford joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to discuss what the US military withdrawal means for Iraqi security and the nature of the bilateral relationship going forward. They also speak about what it will take for Baghdad to bring the PMF militias to heel, and how Iraq may navigate the post-Iran war era.
Jordan’s Economy Weathers Iran War’s Shocks and Finds New Opportunities
In the summer of 2003, King Abdullah II told Bloomberg Jordan sits “between Iraq and a hard place,” a play on words designed to describe the kingdom’s challenging environment to an American audience amid the US-led Iraq war to the east and the lingering Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the west. Jordan is grappling with a much “harder place” today.
Proponents of the war with Iran have taken recent increases in crude-oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz as proof that the US strategy is finally working. President Trump is so confident in this that he recently rejected a seven-day plan, set forward by Iran’s foreign ministry, to end the war and open the strait. The United States is “winning tremendously,” Trump boasted.
Harakat al-Nujaba claims US troops targeted its militiamen in Iraq
The secretary general of Harakat al-Nujaba, an Iranian-sponsored Iraqi militia group fighting in Syria and Iraq, alleges that the US military has targeted the organization’s forces in Iraq, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen and Iran’s
Taliban attacks spell further trouble for strained U.S.-Pakistan ties | Monday Briefing
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Marvin G. Weinbaum, Charles Lister, Paul Salem, and Ahmad Majidyar provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the recent Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, upcoming Syria talks in Sochi, the crackdown on competition in Egypt’s presidential campaign, and U.S. and European reconsideration of the Iran nuclear deal.
Lebanon issues arrest warrant for Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander
Lebanese judicial authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Iran-backed Iraqi militia group called Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Iran’s Fars News Agency reports. Quoting Lebanese sources, Fars added that the Lebanese Army and General Security Directorate have also ordered all relevant authorities to arrest the Iraqi militia commander if he reenters Lebanon. They allege that Khazali last year had entered Lebanon illegally.
Iran-backed groups seeking to consolidate gains in post-ISIS Iraq
The deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces has said that, with the military defeat of ISIS, the paramilitary forces will now play a key role in the security sector, Fars News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) reported.
Quds Force deputy head: International Basij is expanding and will liberate Jerusalem
The deputy head of Iran’s elite Quds Force has said that the creation of “international Basij force” will fulfil Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s pledge to liberate Jerusalem from Israel,
US-EU working group on nuclear deal worries Tehran
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has urged European powers not to support the Trump administration’s efforts to amend or cancel the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers in 2015. Ali Shamkhani also stressed that Tehran would not renegotiate the nuclear accord.
Iran’s border regions seeing an upsurge in militant activity
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on Wednesday that its agents had seized two large caches of weapons and explosives intended for “terrorist operations” in public areas, the Iranian media reported.
IRGC denies knowledge of Khamenei’s edict on armed forces’ role in economy
A senior official of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that he has no information about a recent decree reportedly issued by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling on the country’s armed forces to transfer their investment holdings and commercial assets to the private sector. “I was unable to find such a declaration and have not seen it,” Brigadier General Mohammad-Saleh Jokar, the deputy head of IRGC in parliamentary and legal affairs told Etemad Online.
The spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas thanked Iran for its support to the “anti-Israeli resistance front.” In an interview with Tasnim News Ag
Khamenei’s ruling unlikely to loosen IRGC's grip on Iran's economy
On January 20, Iran’s defense minister said that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the country’s powerful Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to curtail its growing business empire and divest its commercial assets that are not relevant to its domain of work. The announcement has raised the hope that the regime may have finally decided to loosen the IRGC’s grip on the economy.
Political Protests, Global Islam and National Activism: Deciphering the Motivations behind Indonesia’s “Conservative Turn”
This article shows through the examination of the Majelis Intelektual dan Ulama Muda Indonesia (Council for Young and Intellectual Ulama of Indonesia, MIUMI) that the success of Middle Eastern Islamic doctrines has less to do with undermining an “Indonesian” Islam, than adapting their basic tenets to the democratic environment and building bridges to established Indonesian religious institutions. Accordingly, “Indonesian” and “Middle Eastern” Islam are distinctions that are more malleable than they may first appear.
The Iranian naval forces today tested its new medium-range cruise missile during a two-day drill underway in the Sea of Oman, the Iranian media reported.
Hamas wants Khamenei to lead fight against US, Israel over Jerusalem
The representative of the Palestinian Hamas in Lebanon, Ali Barakah, has said that the militant group wants Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to unify the Islamic community and lead the fight against the United States and Israel after Washington’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital.
Iran deports scores of youth to western Afghanistan
Iran everyday deports hundreds of Afghans, including a sizable number of children and teenagers, BBC Persian reports. According to Afghan officials working on refugee affairs in western Herat Province, which borders Iran, about 500 undocumented Afghans are sent back to Herat through Islam Qala border crossing. The BBC report also reveals that human traffickers entice young men from rural Afghanistan into going to Iran for work opportunities. But many face significant dangers on their journey to Iran or are subjected to deportation even if they reach Iran.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
