Above photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/ AFP.
Both Israel and the US have threatened to bomb Iraq.
Due to the support given by Shia armed factions for Gaza and Yemen.
Washington has demanded that Iraq disarm and dismantle Shia resistance factions in the country, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on 21 March.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued the demand to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani during a phone call last Sunday,
The source stressed that “this issue is of special interest to the administration of [US] President Donald Trump.”
Sudani informed the US side that his government is working to address this issue through ongoing dialogue with the armed factions, known collectively as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), the source added.
With backing from Iran, IRI factions have launched multiple missile and drone attacks against Israel in the past 18 months in response to Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire in Gaza on Monday, launching airstrikes that killed over 700 people.
The same day, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein revealed that Israel had also threatened to target Iraq.
“The Zionist threats to target Iraq were clear, and our constitution, government, and interests prevent us from making the decision [to go to] war,” the top diplomat stated, noting that Baghdad had “conducted calls with Washington and other states to sideline Iraq from the Zionist strikes.”
Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Iraqi MP Mohammed Anouz said, “The US is fabricating excuses to intimidate and blackmail Iraqis while Israel continues to threaten and vow to bomb the country, without deterrence or a strong Arab position against it.”
Amid the US and Israeli threats, Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani made an unannounced visit to Baghdad this week, meeting with leaders of the Coordination Framework, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and IRI faction commanders.
The talks focused on Iraq’s position in regional conflicts and maintaining internal stability.
Iraqi media reported that Qaani conveyed “clear messages from Tehran,” including a warning that any Israeli strike on Iraqi territory would trigger an Iranian response. Iran also expressed its support for any stance that Baghdad or the factions may take in such a scenario.
The Lebanese daily noted that amid this pressure, Sheikh Tahseen al-Hamidawi, Saraya al-Salam’s jihadist assistant, stated in a press release that he had received directives from the movement’s leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, which included “strict bans on carrying weapons inside or outside Iraq” and a call for faction members “to consult religious authorities and wise figures – not corrupt or oppressive ones – if Iraq is subjected to foreign aggression.”
Sadr denounced Israeli aggression on Gaza and criticized the global silence toward it. In a post on platform X, he warned: “All this will result in Palestine being sold again, allowing Zionism to expand over Arab and Islamic lands with ease and assistance from various parties until ‘Israel’ reaches Iraq’s borders as it aims to. Regret will be useless by then.”
US Defense Secretary Hegseth also threatened to bomb Iraq if the Shia resistance factions came to the aid of the Ansarallah-led Yemeni government.
“Hegseth informed Sudani that any interference by Iraqi armed factions regarding the US targeting of the Houthis [Ansarallah] in Yemen would prompt Washington to launch a swift military response against those factions inside Iraq, and therefore, they must be prevented from any interference, as happened previously in the wars in Lebanon and Gaza,” sources told Shafaq news agency on 17 March.
The Shafaq report comes after the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) targeted Washington’s aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, twice in 24 hours in response to the deadly US–British attack against Yemen last weekend.
According to an updated death toll, at least 51 were killed and 100 injured in the attack on Yemen.
Yemeni forces have also launched numerous missile and drone attacks on Israel and Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in response to the genocide in Gaza.
Khamenei warns of ‘severe, crushing blow’ if US attacks Iran
US President Donald Trump has recently threatened that Iran risks an attack on its nuclear program if it does not negotiate with Washington
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned the US on 21 March that it will receive “a severe slap” if it carries out any attack against the Islamic Republic.
“The Americans should know that they will receive a severe slap in the face if they commit any evil act against the Iranian people,” the Supreme Leader said.
“In confronting Iran, you can never reach a conclusion through threats. You and others must know that you will receive a severe and crushing blow if you commit any foolish act against the Iranian people,” he added.
He went on to say that “the enemies are waging psychological warfare … but to no avail.”
“The Yemeni people have their own motivations, and the resistance groups in the region also have their own goals. Iran does not need proxies,” Khamenei asserted, responding to recent US threats to Iran about its ties to the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) and Ansarallah resistance movement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said one day earlier that Tehran will respond to a recent letter sent by US President Donald Trump within the coming days, and that the response will consider all aspects of the letter, including its “threats or opportunities.”
He also reiterated that Iran will not negotiate with the US on the nuclear issue under the current circumstances.
“Our policy is based on safeguarding our national interests, and the policy of maximum pressure is not new to us,” he stated.
Trump said in early March that he sent a letter to Iranian leadership threatening them to negotiate or risk an attack on their nuclear program. “I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them. There are two ways in which Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal,” the president said on 7 March.
Tehran has repeatedly blasted Washington for urging nuclear negotiations and, at the same time, resuming a full-fledged economic war against the country as part of Trump’s sanctions policy.
Several officials, including Iran’s president, have repeatedly vowed not to negotiate under sanctions and threats.
Tehran insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, in line with a religious fatwa against weapons of mass destruction, as well as the fact that it is a signatory in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Yet it faces constant threats of attack from Israel. Reports from last month cited US intelligence estimates as saying that Israel is strongly considering strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which could potentially come this year.
“I warn all enemies that any threat being carried out (against Iran) will draw a tough, decisive, and devastating reaction,” the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, vowed on 16 March.