Report: Tehran boosting arms shipments to Iraqi militias

Iran has begun supplying Shi’ite militias in Iraq with more advanced weaponry in preparation for possible renewed fighting with Israel, according to a report by Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet radio station on Tuesday.

The report, which cited Iraqi sources with knowledge of the matter, came just days after Hebrew media cited Israeli security officials as saying that Jerusalem was intensifying its preparations against a potential new Iranian-backed threat emerging from Iraq.

Sources in the Israel Defense Force Northern Command told Walla on Friday that Iraqi militias are believed to be preparing a combined ground and air assault.

Esmail Ghaani, head of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, recently visited Iraq and met with senior militia leaders.

Iraqi officials cited by Kan Reshet Bet said that while Shi’ite militias fear U.S. and Israeli strikes, they take their orders from the Quds Force, and less so from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who has sought to keep Baghdad from being drawn into the regional conflict.

Four months ago, al-Sudani revealed that his government had blocked dozens of attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on Israeli and U.S. targets during June’s 12-day war between Jerusalem and the Islamic Republic.

In an interview with the Associated Press, al-Sudani acknowledged the delicate balancing act required in managing Baghdad’s close yet complicated relationships with both Washington and Tehran.

Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday marked with protests the 46th anniversary of the Nov. 4, 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis, in which 52 American diplomats and citizens were held captive in Tehran for 444 days.

In a statement cited by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting outlet, the IRGC said that the actions of the United States “after 46 years of hostility and in parallel with the 12-day imposed war [in June], have shown that the pattern of intervention, pressure, deception, and threats remains a persistent approach against … the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking at a student gathering in Tehran on Monday marking the anniversary of the hostage crisis, said that “the arrogant nature of the United States accepts nothing other than submission.”

“The Americans sometimes say they would like to cooperate with Iran. Cooperation with Iran is not possible as long as the U.S. continues to support the accursed Zionist regime, maintains military bases, and interferes in the region,” said Khamenei, per state media reports.

“If they completely abandon support for the Zionist regime, withdraw their military bases from here [the region] and refrain from interfering in this region, then it [cooperation] can be considered,” Khamenei added.

The Trump administration brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel that ended the June 13-25 war sparked by Tehran’s nuclear acceleration.

Trump, who joined the IDF in attacking the Islamic Republic’s nuclear installations in June, warned Iran on July 28 against renewed hostilities.

Speaking at a press briefing in Scotland alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump said Iran was “sending very bad signals, very nasty signals,” adding, “and they shouldn’t be doing that.”

“We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. We will do that gladly, openly and gladly,” he said.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will “never respond to the language of threat and intimidation,” adding that it “will not hesitate to react in a more decisive manner” in a future war.

© JNS