Iraq's bid to rein in Iran-linked militias becomes key test of US ties

The Iran war thrust Iraq's powerful Iran-linked militias back into the spotlight.

Throughout the conflict, armed groups operating from Iraq claimed attacks against US interests, carrying out drone and missile strikes linked to the wider confrontation, underscoring how quickly Iraq can be drawn into regional conflicts despite government efforts to stay on the sidelines.

The violence also highlighted one of the biggest challenges facing Iraq's new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who has made bringing weapons under state control a central priority of his administration.

Ibrahim al-Marashi, an associate professor of modern Iraqi history at California State University, San Marcos, said Iraq's leadership faces an increasingly delicate balancing act.

"Zaidi will have to balance between a chastened US failing to conduct regime change in Iran and an Iran that will now lash out at any attempt of Trump using Iraq as a launch pad to destabilize Iran," he told Anadolu.

The challenge has taken on urgency after months of regional conflict. The US and Israel carried out strikes on groups in Iraq, and by mid-May Iraqi militias had also claimed or carried out as many as 5,200 strikes in Gulf countries as well as in Jordan and Syria, according to The Atlantic. Saudi Arabia reportedly indicated that around half of the drone attacks on the kingdom came from inside Iraq.

Six American service members were killed in March when a US Air Force refueling aircraft crashed in Iraqi airspace-accounting for nearly half of the 13 US military deaths linked to the Iran war. While US and Iraqi officials described the incident as an accident, a coalition of Iran-linked Iraqi armed groups claimed responsibility.

In April, the US suspended parts of its security cooperation with Iraq and halted cash shipments generated by oil sales.

"The US wants to ensure that Iran-backed groups will not attack US interests in the region or facilitate Iranian economic activities through Iraq," the senior Iraq analyst at the International Crisis Group Lahib Higel told Anadolu.