Iran Warns Sadr of Divisions Leading to ISIS Resurgence

File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)
File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)
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Iran Warns Sadr of Divisions Leading to ISIS Resurgence

File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)
File photo: Supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr during Friday prayers in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad (AFP)

While Iraq’s Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties, holds meetings to announce a new political initiative, Iran’s Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani warned head of the Sadrist Movement Moqtada Al Sadr against the resurgence of ISIS amid Iraqi divisions.

Qaani had met with Sadr on Tuesday in the central Iraqi city of Najaf.

Multiple sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qaani conveyed Tehran’s fears of “unacceptable consequences” in the event of the disintegration of Shiite forces, including the possibility of “a new invasion of (ISIS) according to a foreign conspiracy.”

A political source who spoke with the team accompanying Qaani said that the Iranian commander assured Sadr that Tehran did not object to the government he wanted to form.

Nevertheless, Qaani stressed that Tehran is rather interested in obtaining realistic guarantees that Iran’s national security will not be threatened.

Mediation efforts continue in Iraq, to bridge the gap between the two largest Shiite blocs that have been at daggers-end since the country's latest parliamentary elections in October.

One bloc, headed by Al Sadr, swept the polls winning 73 out of 329 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Challenging those numbers is the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties — all former allies of Al Sadr — who claim that they collectively hold the majority of 88 seats, rather than the Sadrists.

A source quoting a member of Qaani’s accompanying delegation said that “not involving the Coordination Framework does not constitute a guarantee against threats to Iran’s national security, because it means an unprecedented Shiite division.”

After meeting with Sadr, Qaani returned to Baghdad in conjunction with talks held by the Coordinating Framework to announce a new political initiative.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Wednesday reiterated his government’s rejection of some parties exploiting political divisions in Iraq to settle scores.



Putin Agreed to Let US, Europe Offer NATO-Style Security Protections for Ukraine, Trump Envoy Says

White House envoy Steve Witkoff arrives before a news conference with President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)
White House envoy Steve Witkoff arrives before a news conference with President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Putin Agreed to Let US, Europe Offer NATO-Style Security Protections for Ukraine, Trump Envoy Says

White House envoy Steve Witkoff arrives before a news conference with President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)
White House envoy Steve Witkoff arrives before a news conference with President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)

Special US envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the US and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war.

"We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO," he said on CNN's "State of the Union." He added that it "was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that "we welcome President Trump’s willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. and the ‘Coalition of the willing’ -- including the European Union -- is ready to do its share."

Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to "robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing." He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear.

"It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine," he said, "But there are no details how it will work, and what America’s role will be, Europe’s role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees."

Witkoff defended Trump’s decision to abandon his push for Russian to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made.

"We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal," Witkoff said, without elaborating.

"We began to see some moderation in the way they’re thinking about getting to a final peace deal," he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be "additional consequences" as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there wasn’t going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine wasn’t at the talks.

"Now, ultimately, if there isn’t a peace agreement, if there isn’t an end of this war, the president’s been clear, there are going to be consequences," Rubio said on ABC’s "This Week.But we’re trying to avoid that. And the way we’re trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities."

Rubio, who is also Trump's national security adviser, said he did not believe issuing new sanctions on Russia would force Putin to accept a ceasefire, noting that the latter isn’t off the table but that "the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal."

"The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished," Rubio said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He also said "we’re not at the precipice of a peace agreement" and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work.

"We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we’re still a long ways off," Rubio said.

Zelenskyy and Europeans leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin.

"I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we are on the path for the first time," Witkoff said.

He added: "The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians -- that could not have been discussed at this meeting" with Putin. "We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon."