Iraq extends firearms registration deadline to end of 2026

BAGHDAD — Interior Minister Abdulamir al-Shammari on Thursday ordered the deadline for citizens to register their personal firearms extended until Dec. 31, 2026, in a move the Interior Ministry said is meant to sustain efforts to bring privately owned weapons under documented legal status.

Iraq began overhauling its firearms system in January 2024, when the Interior Ministry launched a nationwide program requiring citizens to register personal guns through the electronic Ur platform. The ministry set up 697 registration offices across Baghdad and other governorates, excluding the Kurdistan Region, and warned that owners who fail to register could face legal action. The plan also included a weapons buyback initiative that allocated 1 billion dinars for each governorate to purchase unregistered medium-sized firearms.

By early 2025, authorities said more than 35,000 heads of households had registered their weapons, prompting an initial extension of the deadline to Dec. 31, 2025. Security forces then stepped up enforcement, seizing more than 1,000 unlicensed firearms, retrieving weapons previously issued to tribal groups and confiscating more than 32,000 firearms from civilian ministries.

Units also intercepted millions of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of rockets and unexploded ordnance in operations targeting illegal gunfire and tribal disputes known locally as dakka, while closing unauthorized weapons shops and pursuing individuals accused of promoting violence on social media.

Maj. Gen. Mansour Ali Sultan, assistant deputy minister for police affairs, said earlier that “the process of purchasing firearms from citizens through the ‘Ur’ platform is ongoing,” and called on media outlets to support the National Committee for Disarmament.

The Interior Ministry said the newly approved extension through the end of 2026 is intended to maintain momentum in reducing unlicensed weapons and improving public safety.