Iran sends new missiles to Iraqi proxies that were said to be disarming – report
Delivery, days before nuclear talks with US, reportedly includes missiles that can reach Europe, in apparent bid to reassure what remains of ‘Axis of Resistance’
Iran has transferred new long-range missiles to proxy groups in Iraq over the past week, defying hopes that the anti-American militias would disarm amid concern of an escalation with US President Donald Trump, according to a Tuesday report, amid preparations for high-level US-Iran nuclear talks in Oman Saturday.
The deliveries from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ air force include surface-to-surface missiles that could reach as far as Europe, as well as shorter-range Quds 351 cruise and Jamal 69 ballistic missiles, The Times of London reported, citing regional intelligence sources involved in monitoring the Iran-Iraq border.
A source cited by The Times said the new long-range models had never before been given to Iraq’s separatist pro-Iranian militias, which last year killed US and IDF troops in drone strikes on military bases in the region.
“It’s a desperate move by the Iranians, risking the stability of Iraq,” said the source.
The report came after Reuters reported on Monday that several powerful Iran-backed militias in Iraq had agreed to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the Trump administration.
Arab media later cited an Iraqi political source as saying that the armed groups had refused to disarm. A regional diplomatic source quoted by The Times said “the efforts seen in the last 48 hours to create a picture that the militias are disarming is a ruse.”
The diplomatic source said the militias were “concerned about internal Iraqi opposition” that was wary of playing host to an Iran-backed state-within-a-state in the mold of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
“There are discussions in Iraq, among politicians but also in the public sphere on social media, against importing Iran’s problems to their home turf,” said the source. “They look at Lebanon and are actively trying to avoid that.”
Analysts cited by The Times said Iran’s missile deliveries to allied groups in Iraq were part of Tehran’s effort to reassure what remains of its crumbling network of regional proxies after Israel’s wars against Hamas and Hezbollah and the ouster in December of Syria’s Iran-backed president, Bashar al-Assad.
Unprovoked, Hezbollah began launching near-daily attacks on northern Israel on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
More distant segments of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, including Yemen’s Houthi rebels and pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq, have also attacked Israel with missiles and drones.
Amid the conflict, Iran itself has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel on two occasions last year, in the Islamic Republic’s first-ever direct attacks on Israel. The attacks triggered Israeli responses that reportedly degraded Tehran’s air defenses and missile production capabilities, eliciting fear in Iran of a US-Israeli strike against its nuclear program.
While most of the attacks from Iraqi pro-Iranian groups have been largely ineffective, two soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded when an Iraqi drone hit their Golan Heights base in October.
The Iran-backed groups reportedly agreed to stop attacking Israel in December at the urging of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, as they waited to see how Trump would approach the region upon taking office in January.
The groups had also attacked US forces in the region, killing three US soldiers and wounding dozens of others at a base in Jordan in January 2024. The strike prompted then-US president Joe Biden to launch strikes on dozens of Iranian proxy sites in Iraq and Syria, including a strike that killed the leader of pro-Iranian Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah that February.
In the same month, it was reported that Iraq’s pro-Iranian militias had agreed to scale back attacks on the US at the request of the commander of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, who had warned of a harsh US reprisal.
Iran is set to enter high-level nuclear talks with the US in Oman this Saturday, Trump announced Monday during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy, which in his first term saw the United States withdraw from a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and reimpose sanctions on Tehran. He said last month that “there will be bombing” if Iran fails to sign a nuclear deal.
The US State Department said Tuesday that Tehran was “going in” the direction of an agreement about its nuclear program, and reiterated Trump’s threat that Iran would have “hell to pay” if it fails to make a deal.
Netanyahu has argued that Iran’s nuclear facilities must be completely destroyed, either by force or through agreement. He was reportedly updated about Trump’s announcement just hours before it was made, and given no assurances that Israel’s criteria for a nuclear deal would be met or what would happen if the talks fell through.
The Islamic Republic, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, has said it opposes nuclear weapons, but has increased production of 60%-enriched uranium and already possesses enough to create a sizable nuclear arsenal, according to analysts and international watchdogs. The enrichment rate is far beyond what is necessary for a civilian nuclear program and a short step away from developing nuclear warheads.
Agencies and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.