Shafaq News- Baghdad

Shiite political leaders have agreed to seek passage of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Service and Retirement Law before the end of September, alongside arrangements for handling weapons held by armed factions, a Coordination Framework (CF) source told Shafaq News on Sunday.

The CF leaders agreed to quickly finalize amendments to the legislation and send it to parliament under the standard legislative process. The Framework also instructed the team reviewing the bill to accelerate its work ahead of the September 30 deadline for the Global Coalition’s military mission in Iraq to end.

The Service and Retirement Law was approved by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s government in 2025 and referred to parliament, but was later withdrawn amid disputes over its provisions.

The proposed amendments address ranks and career progression, benefits for the families of members killed in service and for wounded personnel, and provisions for members who have exceeded the legal retirement age, including the PMF chairman.

They also cover the force’s structure, the number and leadership of its brigades, and the status of volunteers who joined the PMF during the fight against ISIS that began in 2014 despite being below the legal age at the time, the source said.

The source said the bill would soon be referred to parliament’s Security and Defense and Legal committees for review before being presented again for reading and a vote.

Read more: Iraq's PMF Service and Retirement Law: Is political exploitation inevitable?

Weapons Arrangements

On weapons held by armed factions, the source said a political understanding calls for factions to hand over their weapons to PMF storage facilities rather than those of other security agencies. Representatives of the Interior and Defense ministries or the Counter-Terrorism Service may oversee the process.

He said the arrangement falls under what political leaders describe as “managing the factions’ weapons,” with the process coordinated with the Iraqi government. Transfers to PMF facilities would begin only after the Global Coalition completes its withdrawal and the Service and Retirement Law is passed. “Any discussion of different measures before those two conditions are met is merely an attempt to disrupt the existing understandings.”

Earlier on Sunday, State of Law Coalition member Zuhair al-Chalabi told Shafaq News that efforts to bring weapons under state control remained unresolved and that September 30 was not a firm deadline.

The issue remains particularly sensitive ahead of September 30, a deadline the government and major political forces have set for bringing weapons under state control. The date also coincides with the scheduled end of the Global Coalition’s military mission in Iraq, which some factions have cited in linking the future of their weapons to the withdrawal of foreign forces.

Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?