UANI Resources: Iran Continues Meddling In Iraqi Affairs Post-Soleimani

(New York, N.Y.) – Reports this week indicate that Iraqi officials remain wary of Iranian efforts to exert influence on their country and undermine Iraqi  security. After the resignation  last year of its ally  Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, the regime appears to be recalibrating its operations.Tehran has recently dispatched senior national security and IRGC-linked officials for meetings with Iraqi President Barham Salih.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) profiles Tehran’s point men in Iraq in two new reports. One analyzes the career of the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani. An ethnic Arab, Shamkhani plays an important role for the regime as an envoy to the Arab world. The other is a profile of Mohammad Kawtharani, Lebanese Hezbollah’s representative to Iraq.  Both are  playing increasingly promiment roles in managing and meddling in Iraq.

UANI’s Ideological Expansion and Iraq resources also detail the long history of Iran’s support for sectarian policies in Iraq.Since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iran has sought to significantly increase its influence in Iraq by empowering the Shi’a majority with the aim of winning their loyalty to the Iranian regime. It has created, funded, and equipped Shi’a militias in Iraq in an effort to replicate the “Hezbollah model.” The leader of one such militia, Kata’ib Hezbollah, was killed alongside Soleimani in January 2020. Today, Iran continues to control Shi’a militias in Iraq, making it the dominant military, political, and diplomatic power broker.

Iran also maintains significant economic leverage over Baghdad. The regime’s quest for domination and subversion of Iraqi interests to its own has weakened Iraq’s central government and impeded its ability to provide for the welfare of its citizens. And Iraqi protests against widespread unemployment and economic privation have been met with Iranian-style responses.

To read UANI’s Profile: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, please click here.

To read UANI’s Profile: Lebanese Hezbollah’s Representative in Iraq Mohammad Kawtharani, please click here.

To read UANI’s Ideological Expansion resource, please click here.

To read UANI’s Iraq resource, please click here.

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