Iran-Backed Militias: The Real Cost of Their Actions

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the elite Qods Force provided arms, training and financial support to militias and political movements in at least six countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Yemen. When the West and its regional allies have sought to contain Iranian- backed militias , they have done so primarily through economic sanctions on Tehran, on the premise that the Islamic Republic’s lack of funds will eventually curb its support of militant groups. Despite decades of western investment and training, Iranian - backed Iraqi militias have succeeded in state capture. This new regime change shows that regimes can be usurped through careful exploitation of legal and political institutions that the United States helped develop after 2003. With the focus on Yemen and the Houthis highlighted as the last remaining Iranian proxy, in reality it is the Iranian - controlled Iraqi militias (Popular Mobilization Forces, PMF or PMU). Under the Trump administration, Iran escalated its kinetic action against western interests in Iran, by relying heavily on Iraqi militant groups. Such groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haqq received direct funding and training from Iran. In early January, the United States began launching a series of military strikes on Houthi targets. In early February, the Biden administration expanded strikes to include targets against Iran' s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and its affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria. A brief recap of the war The war began on 13 June when Israel launched a surprise pre-dawn strike on Iran with US backing, killing top nuclear scientists and senior military leaders. Iran initially took time to regroup before launching its first barrage of missiles later that day. Over the following 12 days, Iran and Israel traded missile fire. The Popular Mobilization Forces is an umbrella group for a number of Iran-backed militias that include the Imam Ali Brigades and Sayed al-Shuhada. The PMF is practically run by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a military commander who has been designated a terrorist by Washington.