Islamic Resistance gives US forces five-day withdrawal ultimatum

BAGHDAD — Iran-aligned factions operating under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella issued a five-day ultimatum Sunday for U.S. forces to withdraw from the country, warning they would impose their own conditions before halting operations and that no new Iraqi government would be accepted without their approval.

“This war that the American enemy started will not end except at our hands, and we will impose our conditions before we stop, foremost among them not keeping any foreign soldier in Iraq from its north to its south,” the statement said. It warned that if U.S. forces refused to remove weapons and air defense systems from Iraqi soil, “we will remove their lives.”

The statement was issued by Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, Kataib Hezbollah’s security official and the figure named as successor to the group’s slain security chief Abu Ali al-Askari. The factions said they were extending their earlier conditional pause on attacks on the U.S. Embassy by five more days, referencing “what happened in the southern suburbs of Beirut” as a benchmark for potential retaliation if violated.

The statement also made sweeping allegations of infiltration within Iraq’s security services, claiming Kurdish intelligence officers were “100 percent” linked to Mossad and U.S. intelligence, and that officers from other groups maintained “close working ties with the American enemy and Jordanian and Emirati intelligence.” It alleged these figures facilitated strikes on PMF positions, saying “many of the American attacks against our people in the Popular Mobilization Forces would not have taken place without the follow-up of those traitors.”

The factions also issued a political warning, saying “any new government will not see the light unless it bears the imprint of the Islamic Resistance,” and criticized political leaders who condemn attacks on U.S. forces as agents of foreign interests.

The statement represents a significant escalation in the factions’ public posture — moving from claiming attacks to issuing ultimatums to the United States, threatening the Iraqi political process and making explosive allegations against the country’s own intelligence services.