Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq added Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi movement (Ansarallah) to its terrorism-finance blacklist, taking one of its most sweeping steps yet to align with UN Security Council sanctions and global counterterrorism standards.

The designations were issued by the Committee for Freezing Terrorist Funds and published in the Official Gazette Al-Waqai Al-Iraqiya (Issue 4848) on 17 November 2025.

According to the decision, all banks, financial institutions, and relevant entities in Iraq must freeze movable and immovable assets belonging to the listed organizations and prohibit any direct or indirect financial dealings. The measures are grounded in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law No. 39 of 2015, the Freezing of Terrorist Funds Bylaw No. 6 of 2023, and UN sanctions frameworks targeting ISIS, al-Qaeda, and affiliated networks. Updates to the list are to be issued through the Official Gazette and the Anti-Money Laundering Office’s website.

A senior government official told Shafaq News that the move reflects Baghdad’s effort to bring its regulatory and oversight systems in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements and to meet its international obligations on counterterrorism. “Iraq is updating its national lists in coordination with UN sanctions committees,” the official said.

Lawmaker-elect and former MP Mustafa Sanad, who is close to Iran-aligned armed factions, condemned the listing in a Facebook post, saying: “Iraq now classifies the Houthis and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations while [US President Donald] Trump is being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. It is a shame. Many Arab states have avoided such a step. [Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia] Al-Sudani’s speech at the Arab summit two years ago now appears meaningless.”

Read more: Iran–US talks and future of Iraqi armed factions: Sovereignty vs. Resistance

For more than two decades, successive Iraqi governments have upheld a posture of formal neutrality toward the Yemen conflict and the confrontation involving Israel and the so-called “Axis of Resistance”—an Iran-aligned network that includes Hezbollah, the Houthis, several Iraqi armed factions, Palestinian militant groups, and pro-Iran forces in Syria—restricting their public stance to calls for de-escalation and political dialogue. But outside the official track, powerful factions aligned with Iran developed deeper ties with both the Houthis and Hezbollah—connections that expanded across political coordination, media messaging, and logistical and financial support. Although various reports suggest that the Houthis maintained a coordination office in Baghdad in recent years to deepen their outreach to Iraqi groups—an activity later curtailed under US and international pressure—the Houthis have not publicly confirmed this.

The Gaza war brought those links into sharper focus. Several Iraqi armed groups and the Houthis announced joint drone and missile operations targeting Israel and maritime routes, while other factions launched public fundraising drives for Yemen’s movement, presenting themselves as part of a unified front running from Baghdad to Sanaa and Beirut.

Hezbollah’s connections in Iraq remain extensive. Influential Iraqi factions often cite the Lebanese organization as an operational and organizational model. In recent years, US Treasury investigations detailed Iraqi business networks accused of laundering money and channeling Iranian oil revenues—marketed as Iraqi crude—to support the IRGC and Hezbollah, leading to sanctions on companies and businessmen.

Read more: Why Iraq’s PMF disarmament is a different battle from Lebanon’s Hezbollah

Beyond Hezbollah and the Houthis, the list also includes Jamaat al-Mujahideen, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Jaysh Inqadh al-Ruhingya fi Arakan / ARSA), the Royal Sulu Forces (Quwwat Sulu al-Malakiyya), Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (Jamaat Ansar al-Dawla / JAD), al-Qaeda (al-Qaida), al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (al-Qaida fi al-Maghrib al-Islami / AQIM), Anshar Khilafah Philippines (Ansar al-Khilafa fi al-Filippin / AKP), the Islamic State – Sinai Province (al-Dawla al-Islamiyya / Wilayat Sina), al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (al-Qaida fi Jazirat al-Arab / AQAP), the Islamic State (al-Dawla al-Islamiyya / Daish), the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (Harakat Turkistan al-Sharqiyya al-Islamiyya / ETIM), Babbar Khalsa International (Babar Khalsa al-Duwaliyya), Jemaah Islamiyah (al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya / JI), al-Qaeda Malaysia (Tanzim al-Qaida Maliziya / TAQM), Jabhat al-Nusra (Jabhat al-Nusra), and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Namur Tahrir Tamil Ilam / LTTE), among others.