Iraqi sources said officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who oversee armed factions in Iraq, have rebuffed attempts by Shiite politicians to halt attacks inside the country.
Since the outbreak of the US-Iran war, they have effectively acted as a “shadow military supervisor” in Baghdad, maintaining a “pressure front” against Washington and preparing for a breakdown in negotiations.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported on March 24 that officers from the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards, had deployed to Iraq to run attrition operations and set up an alternative operation room.
According to the sources, Quds Force officers have moved between Iraqi cities to oversee attacks, help factions develop locally made drone munitions, and provide missile-related expertise, with targets updated continuously.
Daily target lists
One source said Revolutionary Guards officers provided Iraqi armed groups with daily lists of targets, munitions volumes, and strike timing.
They oversaw the deployment of specialized cells installing drone launch platforms and surveillance units in safe houses at new locations, avoiding coordinates previously tracked by US aircraft before and during the war.
By the fourth week of the war, one source said, the structure of the “resistance” in Iraq had shifted. Core factions moved to a new model built on semi-independent networks that are difficult to dismantle.
A person close to the factions described a system that distributes roles across specialized field cells operating flexibly in complex security environments.
Iraqi sources said the Revolutionary Guards engineered faction networks to ensure plausible deniability through layered structures that provide deterrence and ambiguity.
Some cells were tasked with cross-border attacks targeting interests in neighboring Arab states, as the indirect confrontation widened across overlapping regional arenas.
An unidentified strike hit a house in Khor al-Zubair in Basra, about 150 km from Kuwait, destroying a radar and a launch platform. Members of a cell, including a commander from Kataib Hezbollah, were killed along with two others.
The Revolutionary Guards denied carrying out attacks on Gulf Arab states on Thursday, but “is capable of using Iraqi groups to carry out this task,” a source close to the factions said.
In the final week of the war, before a temporary ceasefire, Iranian officers ordered the redeployment of faction units that had withdrawn from Nineveh and Kirkuk, telling them to retake positions ceded to other forces under US strikes, revealed the sources.
Revolutionary Guards officer does not answer calls
Two figures from the ruling Coordination Framework and the Iraqi government said leaders of four Shiite parties had held talks in recent weeks with Iranian officials inside Iraq to press for a halt to attacks on US interests, but were ignored.
One influential Quds Force officer in Baghdad “does not answer calls from Iraqi politicians, even allies within the Coordination Framework,” the sources said, adding that he communicates only with operational commanders in armed factions.
The contacts reflect attempts to contain escalation and prevent Iraq from sliding into a broader conflict, as pressure mounts on the government to rein in armed groups. But “local political will is diminishing to an unprecedented level,” an Iraqi official said.
Security officials have voiced frustration over what they described as the “growing dominance” of officers from the Revolutionary Guards.
A senior Iraqi official, speaking at a private security meeting, said: “How is it possible that we cannot stop this man? Who is this ‘Abu so-and-so’? Why can’t we arrest him, or at least stop these attacks?”
Leaders within the Coordination Framework said the issue may largely stem from poor communication, noting that Iranian officials rely on strict security protocols.
‘Military supervisor’
Figures within the Coordination Framework said field officers linked to the Revolutionary Guards are effectively becoming a “military supervisor” running a conflict front with the US from inside Iraq, regardless of Iraqi considerations.
They said Iran’s refusal to halt attacks signals it sees little hope in talks with Washington and that the “front is ready to ignite”.
Iraqi officials said the situation underscores the scale of the challenge facing security institutions in areas beyond the state’s direct control.
The US State Department said Iraqi militias receive government financial, operational, and political cover, and that authorities have failed to curb them or limit their attacks, according to a statement issued on Thursday.
Politicians within the Coordination Framework said the conduct of Revolutionary Guards officers reflects Iran’s intent to keep Iraq as a pressure front against the United States as the Pakistan-mediated negotiation kick off.
But they warned that this risks pushing Iraq’s political system toward chaos, accelerating its regional isolation.
