Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are reportedly preparing to disarm for the first time, responding to growing pressure from the U.S. under President Donald Trump to avert a wider conflict, according to a new report by Reuters.
Senior Iraqi officials and militia commanders revealed that disarmament talks have progressed significantly in recent weeks. The apparent shift follows a series of private warnings from U.S. officials to the Iraqi government, threatening military strikes if the militias were not dissolved.
“The factions are not acting stubbornly or insisting on continuing in their current form,” said Izzat al-Shahbndar, a senior Shi’ite politician with close ties to Iraq’s governing alliance. “They are fully aware of the potential for U.S. military action.”
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The talks center on several prominent Shi’ite militias — including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada, and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa — which have long operated outside of Iraqi government control and are widely considered proxies of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
A commander from Kataib Hezbollah, considered the most powerful among them, told Reuters: “Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels. We know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario.”
The Trump administration, which has prioritized confronting Iran and dismantling Iranian influence in the region, has made clear its expectation that all militias in Iraq must disband or face possible U.S. airstrikes.
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According to Iraqi security sources, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has been engaged in direct talks with militia leaders and is urging full disarmament and the reintegration of fighters into official state structures. His advisor for foreign affairs, Farhad Alaaeldin, confirmed that Iraq is committed to bringing all weapons under state control through “constructive dialogue.”
The militia groups in question are part of the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella network of roughly 10 armed factions with an estimated 50,000 fighters. These groups have carried out dozens of attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets in Iraq and Syria, especially since the escalation of the Gaza conflict nearly two years ago.
Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the administration’s position that armed groups operating in Iraq must answer to Baghdad, not Tehran. “These forces must respond to Iraq’s commander-in-chief and not to Iran,” a State Department spokesperson said.
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Since January, some militia groups have begun quietly evacuating headquarters and reducing visibility in major urban areas such as Mosul and Anbar. Intelligence reports suggest that militia commanders are rotating communication devices, switching vehicles, and changing residences in anticipation of possible U.S. strikes.
Still, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, voiced skepticism about the sincerity of the militias’ disarmament pledges, citing past instances in which similar promises were made but not upheld. “We’ve seen this before — a temporary pause under pressure. What matters is long-term accountability.”
This development marks a significant turning point in U.S.-Iraq-Iran relations and signals a potential recalibration of Iran’s regional posture amid renewed American assertiveness in the Middle East.
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