Rubio meets Iraq’s PM as remaining US troops prepare exit

NEW YORK — Days before the last US troops are due to withdraw from Iraq, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday met with the country’s prime minister as Baghdad faces mounting pressure from Washington to rein in Iran-backed militias.

Rubio’s meeting with Iraqi businessman-turned-politician Ali al-Zaidi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York comes ahead of the scheduled Sept. 30 departure of the hundreds of remaining US troops stationed in Iraq to help counter the Islamic State. 

The American withdrawal coincides with an Iraqi government deadline for armed groups to hand over their weapons to the state-run Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella network of Shiite militias formed to fight ISIS and formally incorporated into Iraq’s security forces a decade ago. 

In an interview with the New York Times published Monday, Zaidi outlined a new, extended deadline for the militias to disarm. Beginning on Sept. 30, Iraq's armed groups would be required to observe a 90-day halt in attacks. They would then begin handing over their weapons, with the process ending by June 30, 2027, Zaidi said. 

US special presidential envoy for Iraq, Tom Barrack, told Al-Monitor as he was leaving the Rubio-Zaidi meeting that there is agreement that by the end of June “only the state is the keeper of the military force.” 

The Iraqi government’s call to disarm, however, has been met with fierce resistance by the militias, even as the departure of US troops removes the justification many have used to retain their weapons.  

Several of the most powerful factions, including Kata’ib Hizbollah, refuse to voluntarily surrender their weapons. Others have said they are prepared to do so but appear to be waiting for political concessions in return, said Victoria Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative and Syria Project at the Atlantic Council.

Taylor pointed to Asaib Ahl al-Haq as an example, saying the group is waiting to see whether the United States will accept the appointment of Laith al-Khazali — the brother of its secretary-general, Qais al-Khazali — as a deputy prime minister in Iraq’s government.

“Ultimately, these groups want to see a political pathway that would allow them to be removed from designation lists and become full participants in Iraq’s political process,” Taylor said.

The disarmament push comes as the war between Iran and the United States continues into its seventh month, with Tehran maintaining a chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen’s Houthis escalating their fight against Saudi Arabia.  

Since the war began on Feb. 28, Iran-backed groups have carried out hundreds of attacks targeting US-linked sites in Iraq, including its embassy in Baghdad. They also struck outside of Iraq’s borders, including a September drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline that the Iraqi government confirmed was launched from its territory. 

The International Crisis Group's senior analyst for Iraq, Lahib Higel, said a genuine disarmament process involving these groups would likely take years. 

“A fundamental condition for that to work will be that these groups that are ideologically and operationally aligned with Iran will not be at war with the US while that's supposed to happen,” Higel said. 

Washington and Tehran have vied for influence in Iraq since the US-led invasion toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. Days after meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington for his first foreign trip as prime minister, Zaidi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran. 

Zaidi, who took office in May, emerged as a compromise candidate acceptable to both Washington and Tehran after the Iran-aligned Coordination Framework initially tapped Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to succeed outgoing premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The coalition didn’t advance his nomination after Trump threatened to cut US aid in January, concerned that a pro-Iran government would take root should Maliki stage a political comeback.  

Zaidi was previously chairman of the board at Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, one of several financial institutions that Iraq’s central bank barred in 2024 from making US dollar transactions as part of an effort to crack down on money laundering and illicit use of American currency.