There are growing indications that the strategic goal of Iraq’s federal government is to distance itself from both the United States and Iran. It is a fact that the central federal government in Baghdad has proven extremely weak in striking a balance among the armed factions within the country, as well as in preventing Iraqi territory from becoming embroiled in the broader theater of operations in the Middle East.
However, it is worth highlighting some interesting aspects of the way in which Baghdad appears to be managing the situation, even now, amid an ongoing climate of war, given that Iraq has been “dragged into” a war it did not choose.
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The Americans are leaving. Will the pro-Iranian militias be disarmed?
One week from today, on September 30, the complete withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq will be finalized, meaning that no U.S. military bases will remain on Iraqi soil, although it is clear that both the federal security authorities and the armed forces, as well as the security forces of the Kurds in northern Iraq, will continue to maintain contact and cooperate with the command of U.S. forces stationed in the region, namely CENTCOM.
However, the problem that remains is how to address, from now on, the hitherto unchecked activity of the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militias, which have not stopped carrying out drone attacks targeting U.S. positions in the Persian Gulf, Jordan, and Syria —not to mention Israel, which has been targeted primarily in the southern regions of the country, particularly around the port of Eilat on the Red Sea and its surrounding areas.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who is already in New York for the opening session of the UN General Assembly, gave an interview to The New York Times and made it clear, among other things, that his government intends to implement a plan for the gradual disarmament of pro-Iranian militias. According to the plan, the goal of the federal government in Baghdad is to fully integrate the Shia militias by June 30, 2027.
It is believed that Prime Minister Al-Zaidi’s statements are not unrelated to regional power dynamics, as there are indications that the issue of Iraq’s “neutralization” has reportedly already been discussed between the U.S. and Iran. In other words, the plan for the gradual disarmament of Iraq’s pro-Iranian Shiite militias is not an independent initiative of the—by all accounts — of the practically and institutionally weak Iraqi federal government.
What Will the Upcoming Trump–Al-Zaidi Meeting Bring?
On July 14, 2026, President Trump met at the White House with Iraqi Federal Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaydi at the White House, and the joint statement was limited to defining the general framework for future cooperation between the two countries in areas that were, for the most part, of minor political significance.
However, it appears that the circumstances at the time were not ripe for announcing other, more significant issues, which would essentially concern Iraq’s actual “position” within the region’s new geopolitical environment.
This is where the interest lies in the joint statements the two leaders will issue following their upcoming one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly —a meeting that comes unusually soon after their previous meeting at the White House, just two months ago.
Watch Gabriel Haritou’s report on tonight’s main news broadcast on ALPHA Cyprus with Dimitra Makrygianni
