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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Harakat al-Nujaba on Wednesday rejected proposed parliamentary amendments to a draft law regulating the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), claiming the revisions aim to weaken the state-sanctioned paramilitary network as disputes widen between the armed faction and Baghdad.
The amendments target core articles in the draft legislation to place PMF brigades – which include Nujaba – under a unified military command, prevent the force from rivaling the Iraqi Army in armament and organization, and relocate its bases outside major cities.
The revisions also restrict the independent movement of PMF units, reduce the sweeping privileges of faction leaders and regiment commanders, enforce stricter retirement rules, and sever ties between armed factions and political parties.
"We affirm our steadfast position rejecting these suspicious amendments,” read a statement from Nujaba, adding “we will accept nothing less than a fair law that safeguards the rights of the sons of the PMF, places them on equal footing with their brothers in the security forces, and guarantees all their current and future rights.”
"We reject these amendments in their entirety. We call upon the honorable people who remain steadfast in their positions to take a proud and honorable stand and reject these amendments that weaken, fragment, and diminish the role of the PMF,” Nujaba said.
This comes as the Iraqi parliament prepares to vote on a revised PMF Service and Retirement bill that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s cabinet approved and referred to the legislature in late September, after the original draft remained stalled since early 2025 amid sharp domestic disputes and mounting United States pressure.
The group claimed the long-awaited legislation had remained in suspension to appease US President Donald Trump, alleging that "suspicious Wahhabi and Zionist [Israeli] hands" were behind the "unjust amendments" and framing opposition to the changes as loyalty to the former PMF deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was killed in US strikes that also killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, alongside other militia members in January 2020.
The group described the PMF as the "heart and backbone of Iraq" guided by the doctrine of the "Islamic Resistance," while alleging that paid voices and ongoing conspiracies seek to weaken and dissolve the force.
The dispute reflects continuing disagreements between the Iraqi government and powerful pro-Iran armed factions over Baghdad's efforts to bring all weapons outside state control under government authority.
The government initially sought to resolve the issue by September 30, coinciding with the end of the US-led coalition's military mission in Iraq, but later extended the deadline to June 30, 2027, though several Iran-backed factions have disputed the timetable, saying that no final agreement has been reached.
In September, Zaidi said armed groups had agreed to a roadmap for bringing their weapons under state control by June 2027, but Kataib Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella grouping of Iran-aligned factions, rejected suggestions that they were bound by any government timetable.
Not all Iran-backed factions have taken the same position; on October 1, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada announced its conditional support for an agreement on regulating weapons and the prime minister's pledge to bring arms under state authority, provided other parties fulfilled their commitments, whereas Kataib Hezbollah and Nujaba have continued to ardently challenge the disarmament process.
In an interview with the state-run Iraqi Media Network (IMN) in late October, Zaidi said that "by June 30, 2027, no weapons will remain outside the framework of the state," adding that "Iraq will soon, God willing, be a state free of factions, like other countries in the world, and weapons will be exclusively in the hands of the Iraqi security forces.”
Zaidi revealed at the time that understandings have been reached with five factions to lay down their arms, saying that work has been completed with three of them.
“Work is underway to complete procedures with two other factions in the coming period," he said.
The standoff comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran in the Strait of Hormuz, where attacks on commercial vessels have intensified.
The US is reportedly weighing renewed strikes on Iran, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that further American attacks would be met with a forceful response, raising concerns that another escalation could draw pro-Iran Iraqi factions back into the conflict.
The groups have previously launched hundreds of drone and missile strikes under the IRI umbrella against American targets and diplomatic facilities, as well as energy infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region’s key Khor Mor site.
