Iraq’s armed factions reject weapons deadline as US withdrawal approaches

Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework has reached an impasse with armed factions over weapons, just as the Sept. 30 deadline for the final US withdrawal draws closer. The deadlock has cast doubt on government plans to celebrate the date as “Sovereignty Day.”

A three-member committee formed by the Framework has so far failed to secure a breakthrough. The government of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had hoped Sept. 30 would mark both the departure of US forces and the transfer of factional arsenals to state control. Negotiations now appear stalled.

Harakat al-Nujaba, along with former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri, has rejected the idea of a final or fixed deadline for handing over, restricting, disarming or freezing weapons held outside state control. Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba have previously said they would not accept a timetable, arguing that their weapons are ideological and not limited by national borders.

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This approach is what keeps us alongside our people, experiencing what they experience, carrying their concerns and working to fulfill their demands.

Ali al-Asadi, head of Nujaba’s Political Council, said the movement would continue to protect what he called the “sanctity” of the resistance’s weapons in the face of regional risks. In a post on X, he also reaffirmed support for preserving the Popular Mobilization Forces as “a national body that cannot be compromised.”

Asadi repeated Nujaba’s refusal to participate in the political process, saying, “This approach is what keeps us alongside our people, experiencing what they experience, carrying their concerns and working to fulfill their demands.” He added that the responsibility would remain until “comprehensive change” secured sovereignty, security and prosperity, freed Iraq’s economy from American domination and stabilized the country.

The government has offered a sharply different message. Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said, “No force in the world and no regional circumstances can break a state whose people, in all their components and communities, rally around its institutions.” He also warned against what he called a “flood of alarmism” ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.

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No force in the world and no regional circumstances can break a state whose people, in all their components and communities, rally around its institutions.