Regional Settlement Encourages Iraq PM to Rein in Factions

This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)
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Regional Settlement Encourages Iraq PM to Rein in Factions

This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)

The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations is expected to have an impact on Iraq and its various factions.

Political circles are waiting to see what that impact will be, while head of the Sadrist movement, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr awaits the right opportunity to declare that he is coming out of political retirement.

Iraqi sources said the settlement is encouraging Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to “tighten his relations with armed Shiite factions”.

Meanwhile, decision-makers in Baghdad, most notably the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, are adjusting with and seeking to benefit from the calm that has prevailed after the Saudi-Iran deal was announced earlier this month.

Sudani has received “regional encouragement” to contain the factions. This will probably lead to a change in balances of power among Shiite forces in Iraq, possibly even lead to new alliances in the next parliamentary elections, predicted the sources.

It remains to be seen whether Sadr has the cards that would allow him to rein in his rival, the Coordination Framework, which has become a force to reckon with in Iraqi politics.

Sources close to Sadr believe that the regional settlement will not have a long-term impact in Iraq. “The cleric is focusing his attention on reading the internal scene and waiting for his moment to act to create a new political factor in the coming phase,” they explained.

Amid the speculation, the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria to Iraq met in Baghdad last week.

A trusted told Asharq Al-Awsat that media close to Tehran received “instructions to cease attacking Gulf countries and figures.”

It added that the instructions also called for avoiding escalation and fueling tensions over regional issues, such as the situation in Yemen.

Also last week, the Baghdad and Erbil governments reached an agreement over the payment of salaries of Kurdistan Region employees. Informed sources said the agreement was part of a deal “approved by the Coordination Formation and a positive consequence of the settlement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.”

Framework MPs said the agreement would pave the way for a political alliance at the expense of the Sadrist movement.

Other sources revealed that Erbil received “guarantees from regional powers to resolve its situation in Iraq and the region and to seize the opportunities created in wake of the deal between Riyadh and Tehran.”

A Shiite political source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Framework is prepared to “consolidate new rules for political life in Iraq and that the leaders of its parties believe the situation is very ripe to carry out what is necessary.”

However, he believed that Sadr “will not allow the Framework free reign away from his influence,” predicting that the cleric may soon return to political life.

Sadr had recently ordered prominent members of his movement against traveling abroad during the holy fasting month of Ramadan because they needed to be present at “very important meetings.”



Iran Denies Aiding Yemen’s Houthi Militias after US Strikes

 People gather on the rubble of a house hit by a US strike in Saada, Yemen March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
People gather on the rubble of a house hit by a US strike in Saada, Yemen March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Iran Denies Aiding Yemen’s Houthi Militias after US Strikes

 People gather on the rubble of a house hit by a US strike in Saada, Yemen March 16, 2025. (Reuters)
People gather on the rubble of a house hit by a US strike in Saada, Yemen March 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Iran on Sunday once again denied aiding Yemen's Houthi militias after the United States launched a wave of airstrikes against them and President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and wounded over 100. The Houthis said one strike hit two homes in northern Saada province, killing four children and a woman. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV showed images of what it said were the bodies.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the militias said were acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.

The attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in Gaza in January, but the Houthis had threatened to renew them after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.

The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis and the US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the group, which controls Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and the country's north.

Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthi attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, urged the US to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran's foreign policy.

Trump on Saturday had vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along the vital maritime corridor.

The airstrikes come a few days after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel’s latest blockade on Gaza. There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.

The Houthis had targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two and killing four sailors, during their campaign targeting military and civilian ships between the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 and January of this year, when the ceasefire in Gaza took effect.

The United States, Israel and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but Saturday’s operation was conducted solely by the US It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.