US legislators call for action against Iraq’s Iran-linked paramilitary groups

Ten Republican members of the US House of Representatives have demanded that Washington designate several Iraqi paramilitary groups with ties to Iran as terrorist organisations and suspend security assistance to Baghdad over its recognition of these groups as part of the state's security forces.

The demand was made in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz dated January 28, and was posted on X by one of its signatories, Representative Joe Wilson.

The letter calls for the designation of several groups that are part of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, which was made a branch of the Iraqi state's security forces after helping to defeat ISIS and end the extremists group's occupation of northern and western Iraq between 2014 and 2017.

Mr Wilson, former chairman of the Middle East House subcommittee, has also written to foreign affairs committee chairman Brian Mast to call for an investigation into former White House adviser Brett McGurk over “failed” Middle East policies that "endangered US national security".

Both letters cite part of a 2022 report by the Department of Defence Inspector General that highlights the influence of the powerful PMF-linked Badr Organisation in Iraq's ministries of defence and interior and units of its army.

They also point out Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim Al Araji's links to the group and his previous detention by the US in connection with attacks on American forces in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led 2003 invasion.

The letter to Mr Rubio and Mr Waltz calls for terrorist designations for the Badr Organisation as well as the Abu Fadl Al Abbas Brigades; the Fatemiyoun Brigade; Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba; Kataeb Al Imam Ali; Kataeb Jund Al Imam; Kataeb Sayyed Al Shuhada; Saraya Al Jihad; Saraya Khorasani; and the Zainabiyoun Brigades.

It also calls for terrorism-related sanctions on the Badr Organisation, Abu Fadl Al Abbas Brigades, Kataeb Al Imam Ali, Kataeb Jund Al Imam, Saraya Al Jihad and Saraya Khorasani.

The House representatives said they wanted all US security assistance to Iraq to be suspended "as long as any Iranian-backed militia or foreign terrorist organisation are legally part of the Iraqi state or funded or trained by the government of Iraq".

While the US withdrew its forces from Iraq by 2011, they later returned as part of the international coalition against ISIS and remain in the country alongside other foreign troops to train and assist Iraqi forces in preventing a resurgence of the extremist group.

Iraqi military bases hosting US troops have faced repeated unclaimed attacks with mortars, rockets or drones amid demands for their withdrawal from Iran-allied factions. The attacks increased after the Gaza war began in October 2023 but subsided under a truce agreed to give Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani's government time to negotiate a US troop pullout with Washington.

A new relationship with the old country

Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates

The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.

ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.

ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.

DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.

Signed

Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed