: [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION Aug. 20, 2026: This story incorrectly says that a meeting between President Trump and the new Iraqi prime minister took place in June. In fact, it happened in July.]
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Iraq's new prime minister promised President Trump, when they met in June, that he would disarm Iran-backed militias by the end of September. That's the same deadline for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq. But for a country with close ties to Iran, the war between the U.S. and Iran has made it a difficult balancing act. NPR's Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: On Baghdad's Airport Road, there's a shrine of sorts. It's on the spot where, six years ago, the United States fired Hellfire missiles, killing Iranian Commander Qasem Soleimani, along with a senior Iraqi security official and eight other people.
The monument is the wreckage of the cars that were hit by the missiles, and they've been placed kind of end-to-end, and there are white doves interwoven between them, reaching to the sky.
Two decades after the U.S. invaded Iraq, it still holds immense power, as does neighboring Iran, which plays a huge role in Iraqi security and politics. With the U.S. and Iran at war, Iraq is in a very tough spot.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, thank you very much.
ARRAF: At Trump's first meeting with Iraq's new prime minister in June, the president was still gloating over killing Soleimani.
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TRUMP: And I killed him in my first administration. Had I not, it might be a different story today. He was a mad genius.
ARRAF: Soleimani was polarizing - hated by some for interfering in Iraq and for arming Shia militias backed by Tehran, but glorified by many others for playing a key role in fending off the militant group ISIS. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has promised Trump he will disarm the country's most powerful militias.
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PRIME MINISTER ALI AL-ZAIDI: (Through interpreter) After 30 of September, there is not any need for the presence of any faction.
ARRAF: Those militias have attacked U.S. diplomatic missions and military bases in Iraq because they believe the U.S. is an occupying force and an extension of Israel. Some paramilitary groups have already handed over weapons to the Iraqi government, but several other powerful groups refuse.
In a quiet residential neighborhood in Baghdad, we meet the spokesman for one of them, called Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Three years ago, the U.S. put a $10 million bounty on its leader, accusing him of attacks on U.S. forces. Sheikh Kadhim Al-Fartousi says as long as the U.S. maintains intelligence and military assets in diplomatic missions, the Iran-backed resistance his group is part of will attack.
KADHIM AL-FARTOUSI: (Through interpreter) If these bases launch attacks, assaults and hostile acts, they must be punished. If the government is complicit, pressured for any reason or sometimes powerless, we are not like that.
ARRAF: He says they don't want armed confrontation with the Iraqi government, but he fears one is coming. Iraq's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Saad Maan, says he believes Iraq will succeed in regaining control of weapons.
SAAD MAAN: I think the situation will be better. Nobody will have this opposition against the government, against the will of our society, our community.
ARRAF: Iraqi analyst Sajad Jiyad says Iran seems to feel equally confident that paramilitary groups will hang on to their arms.
SAJAD JIYAD: I think Iran feels very confident that it's going to stand by pro-Iran groups in Iraq and elsewhere. No amount of pressure from Israel or the United States is going to see these groups crumble away.
ARRAF: Sheikh Fartousi tells us he believes the Shia cannot be defeated, even with Hellfire missiles.
AL-FARTOUSI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "You can kill them, but you cannot defeat them," he says. Why? He says, "because their belief is that being killed is part of victory."
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Baghdad.
(SOUNDBITE OF HERMANOS GUTIERREZ'S "MESA REDONDA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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