Shafaq News- Washington/ Baghdad

The United States backed Iraq’s push to bring weapons under state control on Tuesday, warning against Iranian influence over Baghdad, hours after Iran’s Quds Force commander urged Iraqi factions “not to disarm.”

“A government controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts, or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq,” a US administration official told Shafaq News.

The official said Washington had made clear to Baghdad that maintaining Iraq’s sovereignty and preventing attacks launched from its territory by “Iran-backed militias” were critical.

“The US fully supports disarmament and transfer of arms to the central government,” the official noted, adding that transparency with Washington and regional partners over how the process is conducted was “critical to success.”

Earlier today, Iran’s Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani concluded an unannounced visit to Baghdad, where an informed source told Shafaq News he urged armed factions “not to surrender their weapons for now” while warning them against an armed confrontation with government forces.

Qaani instead pressed for a political settlement that would allow the factions to retain their weapons at this stage and urged leaders of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework to “exert political pressure” on the government toward such an arrangement, according to the source.

The competing positions come ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline set by Iraq’s State Administration Coalition (SAC) to bring weapons under state control. At an Aug. 5 meeting, the coalition said groups conducting activities that threaten national security outside state institutions would be “considered outside the law.”

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

A political understanding disclosed to Shafaq News before Qaani’s visit called for armed factions to hand their weapons to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) by the end of September. Under the proposed arrangement, the PMF would oversee the weapons and formally document their storage sites, with any movement of personnel or arms requiring orders from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi.

Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have rejected relinquishing their military capabilities, linking any discussion of their weapons to the withdrawal of foreign forces and guarantees against external attacks. Other groups have signaled willingness to reorganize their military and security relationship with the state.

For Shafaq News, Mustafa Hashem, Washington, DC.

Read more: What happens to Iraq's armed factions after September 30?