Action on Another Front: Strikes on Pro-Tehran Militias in Iraq

Air strikes, likely conducted as part of American-Israeli operations, are hitting Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq, but no one is taking credit. The militias themselves claim to have launched dozens of attacks against the “U.S. presence” in Iraq, and Washington has designated many of the militias as terrorist organizations.

Baghdad has long walked the tightrope of partnering simultaneously with the United States and the Islamic Republic, but Tehran’s influence is preventing the Iraqi government from keeping its country out of war.

On March 7, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an official Iraqi security institution comprised mainly of Tehran-backed proxy militias, reported a strike on a PMF base in Mosul. American-Israeli operations have targeted several PMF and militia bases since the beginning of operations against the Islamic Republic on February 28, striking U.S.-designated groups such as Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq. The militias announced the resulting casualties a as martyrs from these Iran-backed terror groups, not Iraqi soldiers. These airstrikes highlight a fundamental issue in Iraq: Tehran’s proxies exist under the cover of government legitimacy.

Popular Mobilization Forces Use Official Status to Take in Billions

The PMF was established in 2014 to formalize the role of existing militias, including the anti-American Shiite militias, in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The United States has designated six PMF constituent militias and numerous leaders as terrorists to date, but this doesn’t stop their leadership from enjoying extensive political influence.

As part of the armed forces, the PMF receive a budget of $3.5 billion from the Iraqi government. Their official status has also facilitated penetration of the country’s political and economic sectors, which enables them to profit to the tune of over $1 billion annually through oilsmuggling. In 2022, the Iraqi government established the Muhandis General Company, effectively owned by the PMF and under the control of a U.S. designated terrorist, to serve as a vehicle for siphoning government funds. According to the U.S. Treasury, which blacklisted Muhandis in October 2025, the company “uses a sub-contracting method to divert funds from Iraqi government contracts.”

Tehran-Backed Militias Have Fought US in Iraq for Two Decades

The Islamic Republic’s Iraqi partners are likely behind the more than 40 drone and missile attacks against the U.S. presence in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan since February 28. Each day during the conflict, they have claimed more than a dozen attacks, though these numbers may be an exaggeration. On March 7, Iraqi militias likely conducted a rocket attack against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. They have also threatened the U.S. embassy in Baghdad during violent protests after the of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death. Some individuals arrested by Iraqi security forces for these riots were part of the PMF according to images of their IDs shared on social media.

Following Hamas’s October 7 atrocities, many of Tehran’s Iraqi militias, under the front group the Islamic Republic in Iraq (IRI), launched more than 180 attacks against Israel and U.S. forces. In January 2024, they killed three U.S. servicemembers and injured 25 more at a U.S. base in Jordan. Tehran-backed militias, including those that would join the PMF after its founding, also killed at least 600 American servicemembers in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. Iraq has been unable or unwilling over more than two decades to choose between its American allies and its Shia militias’ Iranian patrons.

PMF Is a Test for Baghdad’s Next Government and American Commitment

The Trump administration’s success in 2025 in preventing a Tehran-supported bill to further protect and strengthen the PMF showed that sustained U.S. pressure can counter the Islamic Republic’s hold on Iraq. To achieve similar wins in the future, Trump administration must stick to its red lines that Iran-aligned Nouri al-Maliki, the current Shiite nominee, cannot be prime minister and that no militia leaders can hold senior positions or face a rollback of U.S. military and economic support.

Edmund Fitton-Brown is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Bridget Toomey is a research analyst. For more analysis from the authors, please subscribe HERE. Follow Edmund on X @EFittonBrown. Follow Bridget on X @BridgetKToomey. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.