Iraqi militia factions expected the usual cash handout when the new head of Iran’s Quds Force made his first visit to Baghdad earlier this year, succeeding the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Instead, to their disappointment, Esmail Ghaani brought them silver rings.
For his second visit, Ghaani had to apply for a visa, something unheard of in Soleimani’s time — a bold step by Baghdad’s new government effectively curtailing Iran’s freedom of movement inside Iraq.
The episodes, relayed to The Associated Press by several Iraqi officials, illustrate Iran’s struggles to maintain sway over Iraqi militias six months after America assassinated Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a commander in the Popular Mobilization Forces, in a drone strike. Iran at the same time is grappling with the economic fallout from US sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak.
Without imposing figures like Soleimani and Muhandis to unify disparate factions, divisions have emerged in the PMF.
Their deaths also disrupted a trajectory to institutionalize the militias, which Muhandis had been meticulously planning with Soleimani’s blessing.
“With Muhandis gone, there is an absence of an anchor around which (PMF) politics revolves,” said Fanar Haddad, an Iraq researcher.
Among Iraq’s Shiite political and militia factions, Soleimani, a chief architect of Iran’s proxy groups across the region, held almost legendary status.
Since his death, Shiite factions have shown discord, arguing over a premier candidate twice before they settled on Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Soleimani's successor as Quds Force commander, Ghaani, is less familiar with Iraqi militia leaders and speaks to them through an interpreter.
Meetings in Iraq have increasingly been handled by Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi, himself a former Quds Force member.
Ghaani’s gift of silver rings rather than cash came during a meeting in April with leaders of several militia factions, according to three officials.
Ghaani told them that, for the moment, they would have to rely on Iraqi state funding, they said, a sign of Iran's economic crisis.
Smaller Iranian-backed groups rely on other informal means of revenue and receive extras from Iran.
Some of the most Iran-friendly militias under the PMF have shown signs of splintering.
Attacks against US forces in March were claimed by a purported new group, Usbat al-Thairen, believed to have emerged from the powerful Kataib Hezbollah, which the US accused in previous attacks.
Recently, four militias said they would take orders directly from Iraq’s premier, bypassing the PMF leadership.
A senior official from Kataib Hezbollah said the move has weakened the PMF and its legitimacy among the public.
