Iran has granted its commanders greater autonomy over armed factions in Iraq, allowing some groups to carry out operations without Tehran’s approval, a shift driven by the pressures of the war, three faction members and two other officials told The Associated Press.
Many Iran-backed factions are funded through the Iraqi state budget and embedded within the security apparatus, drawing criticism from the United States and other countries that have borne the brunt of their attacks and say Baghdad has failed to take a tougher stance.
Despite mounting pressure from the US, Baghdad has struggled to contain or deter the groups. The most hard-line factions now operate under Iranian advisers using a decentralized command structure, the five officials told AP, each on condition of anonymity to speak freely about sensitive matters.
“The various forces have been granted the authority to operate according to their own field assessments without referring back to a central command,” said one faction official, who didn't have permission to speak publicly.
The war in the Middle East has exposed the fragility of Iraq’s state institutions and their limited ability to restrain these groups. A parallel confrontation between Washington and the factions has deepened the crisis, with factions acting as an extension of Iran’s regional campaign and escalating attacks on US assets in Iraq before a tenuous ceasefire deal was reached in April.
Even if the ceasefire agreement holds, Washington is expected to intensify efforts against the groups militarily and politically, particularly as they gain latitude to operate more independently, officials and experts said. On Friday, the US imposed sanctions on seven commanders and senior members of four hard-line Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups.
“The US is still going to feel it has the freedom of action to hit Iraqi factions,” said Michael Knights, head of research for Horizon Engage, a geopolitical risk consulting firm, and an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “That may well play out into an effort to try and guide a less faction-dominated government formation.”
Decentralized control
Days into the war sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, an Iranian delegation arrived in Iraq’s Kurdish region and delivered a blunt message: If faction attacks escalated near US military bases, commercial interests and diplomatic missions, Iraqi Kurdish authorities should not come to Tehran with complaints, as there was little they could do about it.
“They said they’ve devolved authority to regional Iranian commanders,” a senior Iraqi Kurdish government official said on condition of anonymity, citing the subject's sensitivity.
In the past, Kurdish leaders in Iraq would call Iranian officials after attacks to ask why they had been targeted. “This time, they wanted to preempt that by saying, ‘We can’t help you with the groups in the south right now,’” the official said.
This shift reflects lessons drawn from the 12-day war in June, the official said. Faction officials corroborated the claim. During that war, operations were tightly centralized. In its aftermath, greater autonomy was granted in the field.
A spokesperson for Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, among the Iran-backed armed groups that have attacked the US in Iraq, said there was “coordination” with Iran in launching attacks but didn't give details.
“Since we are allies of Iran, we have coordination with our brothers in Iran,” Mahdi al-Kaabi said.
In the recent war, key Iraqi faction leaders appeared to step back from the latest phase and didn't appear to be directly involved in operations, Knights said. US strikes largely killed mid-level commanders, according to faction officials.
“None of the first-line leaders have been killed,” said a second faction official, who wasn't authorized to brief reporters.
Rather than targeting top figures, the US also focused on Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisory cells, said Knights, who tracked the attacks. In one strike in Baghdad’s upscale Jadriya neighborhood, three Guard advisers were killed at a house used as their headquarters during a meeting, according to the second faction official.
Pressure on Iraq is intensifying
At the heart of government efforts to rein in armed groups lies a paradox: The factions the government says it cannot control are tied to political parties that brought it to power.
The Coordination Framework, an alliance of influential pro-Iran Shiite factions, helped install Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister in 2022. He now serves as caretaker premier amid a prolonged political deadlock.
Faction forces carrying out attacks on US targets aren't rogue actors; they're part of the state’s Popular Mobilization Forces, created after the fall of Mosul in 2014 to formalize volunteer units that were critical in defeating the ISIS group.
The PMF has evolved into a powerful force, with fighters receiving state salaries and access to government resources, including weapons and intelligence. The result, critics say, is a deep contradiction: Certain state-funded groups operate in line with Iranian priorities, even when doing so undermines Iraq’s national interests.
Al-Sudani’s office didn't respond to the AP’s requests for comment on the decentralized control of armed groups.
The US is focused on curbing the power of these groups in Iraq, the senior Iraqi Kurdish official and a Western diplomat said, which will put increasing pressure on the government, still functioning in caretaker status. The diplomat also spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't permitted to brief reporters.
Last week, Iraq’s ambassador to the US was summoned to Washington to hear US condemnation of attacks by Iran-backed factions on American personnel and diplomatic missions, according to State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Bigot.
“The Deputy Secretary affirmed that the United States will not tolerate any attacks targeting its interests and expects the Iraqi Government to take all necessary measures immediately to dismantle Iran-aligned armed groups,” Bigot said in a statement.
Factions resist steps from Iraq's government
Al-Sudani has taken limited steps to curb faction influence, including further institutionalizing the PMF and occasionally removing commanders who act outside state authority. The efforts have met significant resistance from armed groups.
Further institutionalizing them has deepened their entrenchment within the state. The US may seek to isolate the most hard-line factions — including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada — from others more embedded in Iraq’s political system. “The bad factions from the worse factions,” the senior Iraqi Kurdish official said.
Harakat al-Nujaba spokesperson al-Kaabi offered a dual framing of the group’s position, stressing both its alignment with Iran and its claim to Iraqi state legitimacy.
“To put it bluntly, we are allies of Iran,” he said. He described the group as part of Iran’s regional “axis” alongside Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen.
At the same time, he insisted the group operates within Iraq’s political order, supporting the state and government when they serve national interests.
“It’s true we’re not affiliated with the government or the prime minister, but we respect the law and the constitution,” he said.
