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Iran's Weakening Will Not Harm Iraq, Deputy Parliament Speaker Says

Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
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Iran's Weakening Will Not Harm Iraq, Deputy Parliament Speaker Says

Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
Mohsen al-Mandalawi, deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad, Iraq, January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

Iraq will not be negatively affected by the weakening of Iran's influence in the Middle East, Iraq's deputy parliament speaker said, with Baghdad looking to chart its own diplomatic path in the region and limit the power of armed groups.

Mohsen al-Mandalawi spoke to Reuters in a recent interview after seismic shifts in the Middle East that have seen Iran's armed allies in Gaza and Lebanon heavily degraded and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad overthrown by the opposition.

US President Donald Trump's new administration has promised to pile more pressure on Tehran, which has long backed a number of parties and an array of armed factions in Iraq.

Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is trying to avoid upsetting its fragile stability and focus on rebuilding after years of war.

"Today, we have stability. Foreign companies are coming to Iraq," said Mandalawi, himself a businessman with interests in Iraqi hotels, hospitals and cash transfer services.

"Iraq has started to take on its natural role among Arab states. Iran is a neighbor with whom we have historical ties. Our geographical position and our relations with Arab states are separate matters," he said, speaking at his office in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to government institutions and foreign embassies.

"I don't think that the weakening of Iran will negatively impact Iraq."

Mandalawi is a member of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Coordination Framework, a grouping of top politicians seen as having close ties with Iran, and heads the Asas coalition of lawmakers in parliament.

Iraq's balancing act between Tehran and Washington has been tested by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups' attacks on Israel and on US troops in the country after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023.

That has led to several rounds of tit-for-tat strikes that have since been contained.

During Trump's first 2017-2021 presidency, ties were tense after the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in 2020, leading to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on US forces in Iraq.

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Arab World

Hezbollah Accepts Resignation of Senior Security Official Wafiq Safa

Lebanon’s Hezbollah members carry Hezbollah flags during the funeral of a fellow fighter, in al-Ghaziyeh village, southern Lebanon May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
Lebanon’s Hezbollah members carry Hezbollah flags during the funeral of a fellow fighter, in al-Ghaziyeh village, southern Lebanon May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
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Hezbollah Accepts Resignation of Senior Security Official Wafiq Safa

Lebanon’s Hezbollah members carry Hezbollah flags during the funeral of a fellow fighter, in al-Ghaziyeh village, southern Lebanon May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
Lebanon’s Hezbollah members carry Hezbollah flags during the funeral of a fellow fighter, in al-Ghaziyeh village, southern Lebanon May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Lebanon's Hezbollah accepted the resignation of senior security official Wafiq Safa on Friday, the first time an official of his rank has stepped down, sources familiar with the group's thinking told Reuters. 

Safa, who heads Hezbollah's liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, survived an Israeli assassination attempt in October 2024. 

The sources said Safa had submitted ‌his resignation ‌some time ago, but the ‌group's ⁠leadership accepted ‌it on Friday after he insisted on his decision. They did not give a reason for his resignation. 

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 to end more than a year of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, which ⁠had culminated in Israeli strikes that severely weakened the Iran-backed ‌group. Since then, the sides ‍have traded accusations of ‍ceasefire violations. 

Lebanon has faced growing pressure ‍from the US and Israel to disarm Hezbollah, and its leaders fear that Israel could dramatically escalate strikes across the battered country to push Lebanon's leaders to confiscate Hezbollah's arsenal more quickly. 

Hezbollah has fought numerous conflicts with Israel since it was founded ⁠by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982. It kept its arms after the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, using them against Israeli troops who occupied the South until 2000. 

Safa, whom Middle East media reports said was born in 1960, oversaw negotiations that led to a 2008 deal in which Hezbollah exchanged the bodies of Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 for Lebanese prisoners in Israel. ‌The 2006 incident triggered a 34-day war with Israel. 

Arab World

Lebanon and Syria Ink Deal on Prisoner Handover

People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)
People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon and Syria Ink Deal on Prisoner Handover

People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)
People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanon inked an agreement with Syria on Friday to hand some 300 convicts over to Damascus, a move seen as key to helping turn a new page in ties between the countries.

Overcrowded Lebanese prisons hold more than 2,200 Syrians held on various charges.

Many of them are still awaiting trial, while hundreds accused of "terrorism" or related offences including attacks on Lebanese forces have been brought before military courts, according to AFP.

Others are in custody for alleged membership in militant or armed groups that were opposed to now ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who was supported by Lebanon's Hezbollah group during the Syrian civil war.

Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais announced the signing of the agreement at a press conference in Beirut.

Wais called it "an important step on the path to justice in addressing the situation of convicts who have spent a long time in prison and whose cases were among the most complex legally".

The agreement covers around 300 convicts, while the remaining detainees require "long procedures" before a similar agreement on them can be reached, Wais said.

The deal reinforces "the trust and political will that already exists between the two countries", he said, expressing hope it would help improve ties.

Lebanese authorities have said that the convicts who meet the requirements, including having spent at least 10 years behind bars, will be handed over to Syria where they will serve the rest of their sentences.

Mitri told AFP that cooperation extended beyond the issue of convicts, with officials working to "resolve all common issues that will set bilateral relations right".

The first step following the deal's signing would be a cabinet decision to "abolish the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council", an Assad-era body.

Authorities will also review "unfair agreements concluded during the time of Syrian tutelage in Lebanon, as well as the demarcation of the land and maritime borders", Mitri added.

Syria's army entered Lebanon in 1976 as part of an Arab force that was supposed to put an end to the Lebanese civil war which began a year earlier.

Instead Syria became the dominant military and political force in Lebanon, looming over all aspects of Lebanese life.

Syrian forces only withdrew from the country in 2005 after enormous pressure following the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri, a killing attributed to Damascus and its ally Hezbollah.

Arab World

French FM: Lebanese Army Must be Given 'Means' to Disarm Hezbollah

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot gives a joint press conference with the President of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region in Erbil, the regional capital, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot gives a joint press conference with the President of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region in Erbil, the regional capital, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)
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French FM: Lebanese Army Must be Given 'Means' to Disarm Hezbollah

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot gives a joint press conference with the President of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region in Erbil, the regional capital, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot gives a joint press conference with the President of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region in Erbil, the regional capital, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Safin HAMID / AFP)

Lebanon's army must be given the means to disarm Hezbollah, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP ahead of his expected arrival in Beirut on Friday.

"France's vision for Lebanon is that of a strong, sovereign state holding a monopoly on arms," he said.

"The first step to fulfil this mission is to give the Lebanese Armed Forces the means to continue the work of disarming Hezbollah," added the minister, whose country will host a conference in support of the Lebanese army on March 5.

Hezbollah emerged weakened from its latest war with Israel, which ended in a November 2024 ceasefire agreement.

In line with the agreement, the Lebanese army announced in January that it had completed the first phase of a government plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about thirty kilometers (20 miles) south.

"The Lebanese government has shouldered its responsibilities by launching and carrying through to completion the first phase of this disarmament plan," Barrot said.

"The second phase must now begin, and the plan associated with this phase is to be presented in the coming days, and in any case before the conference is held," he continued.

The second phase of the plan concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around forty kilometers south of Beirut.

Hezbollah has thus far refused to hand over its weapons north of the Litani.

The French foreign minister is due to meet Lebanon's top officials in Beirut on Friday, the final stop of a tour that has taken him to Syria and Iraq.