Coordination Framework Approaches Iraq’s Sunnis, Kurds to Form Govt without Sadr

Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
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Coordination Framework Approaches Iraq’s Sunnis, Kurds to Form Govt without Sadr

Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Iraqi demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Baghdad, Iraq September 2, 2022. (Reuters)

The Shiite pro-Iran Coordination Framework carried out over three days last week negotiations with Sunni and Kurdish forces to form a new government in Iraq.

The Framework is keen on forming the new cabinet as its rival, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Sadrist movement has yet to comment on the efforts.

The Framework held talks with the Sunni Azm and Sovereignty alliances and the Kurdish Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Leaks to the media confirmed speculation that the Sunnis and Kurds have set a number of conditions to join the Framework in the new government.

It remains to be seen whether the Sadrists and Framework will meet after the Arbaeen commemoration on Saturday.

An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the negotiations between the Framework, Sunni and Kurdish forces are not official, rather the latter two parties are “testing the waters” with the former to see whether it would achieve repeated demands that have been ignored for years.

The source said the negotiations are significant because they go to show how far Sadr’s former allies – the Sunnis and Kurds – have grown distant from his movement.

Sunni conditions at the talks included introducing amendments to the parliamentary electoral law within three months, holding parliamentary elections within one year at the latest, amending the counter-terrorism law and reconstructing liberated provinces.

They also demanded the withdrawal of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) from these provinces, uncovering the fate of abducted individuals, and returning the displaced to Jarf al-Sakhir.

These demands and others had fallen on deaf ears in previous governments - that were dominated by Shiite powers – due to political disputes.

Political observers believe the Framework is determined to forge ahead and hold a parliamentary session soon to pave the way for the election of a president and appointment of a new prime minister.

Regardless of what it intends to do, it seems unlikely that it will go far if the Sadrists remain silent, which is also unlikely.

The Framework has an arduous task ahead with negotiating with the Sunnis and Kurds over meeting the demands of the former and having the major Kurdish parties reach an agreement over a presidential candidate.

Should an agreement be reached, then the necessary quorum may be met at parliament to elect a president.

Should the Sadrists have a different say on the matter, then any agreement sought by the Framework with the Sunnis and Kurds will collapse. This is especially true if Sadr were to again mobilize his supporters on the street.

This may again lead to intra-Shiite clashes, further complicating the already complex scene in Iraq and opening it to new unpredictable possibilities.



No Armed Groups Allowed in Lebanon, President Tells Hezbollah’s Ally Iran

In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
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No Armed Groups Allowed in Lebanon, President Tells Hezbollah’s Ally Iran

In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, its president told a visiting senior Iranian official on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the goals of a US-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group. 

During a meeting in Beirut with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's top security body, Joseph Aoun warned against foreign interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, saying the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect. 

Larijani said the Islamic Republic supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and does not interfere in its decision-making. 

"Any decision taken by the Lebanese government in consultation with the resistance is respected by us," he said after separate talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal movement is an ally of Hezbollah. 

By "resistance", Larijani was alluding to Hezbollah, which was founded in 1982, grew into a "state-within-a-state" force better armed than the Lebanese army and has repeatedly fought Israel over the decades. 

"Iran didn't bring any plan to Lebanon, the US did. Those intervening in Lebanese affairs are those dictating plans and deadlines", said Larijani. 

He said Lebanon should not "mix its enemies with its friends - your enemy is Israel, your friend is the resistance ... I recommend to Lebanon to always appreciate the value of resistance." 

Later on Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said after meeting Larijani that recent remarks on Lebanon by Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were totally rejected by his government. He said the comments constituted a "violation" of the principle of mutual state sovereignty. 

Last week, Araghchi said Tehran supported any decision Hezbollah made and this was not the first attempt to strip the group of its arsenal. 

Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, also criticized the Lebanese government's move on disarmament. "If Hezbollah lays down its weapons, who will defend the lives, property, and honor of the Lebanese?" he said. 

The US submitted a plan through President Donald Trump's envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, setting out the most detailed steps yet for disarming Hezbollah, which has rejected mounting calls to disarm since its devastating war with Israel last year. 

Hezbollah has rejected repeated calls to relinquish its weaponry although it was seriously weakened in the war, with Israel killing most of its leadership in airstrikes and bombings. 

It was the climax of a conflict that began in October 2023 when the group opened fire at Israeli positions along Lebanon's southern frontier in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. 

Aoun also said recent remarks by some Iranian officials had not been helpful, and reaffirmed that the Lebanese state and its armed forces were solely responsible for protecting all citizens.