Asaib Ahl al-Haq to skip initial cabinet as weapons issue delays participation

BAGHDAD — Asaib Ahl al-Haq will not participate in the initial formation of Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi’s government until the incoming government’s position on restricting weapons to state control becomes clear, senior movement official Naim al-Aboudi said Wednesday.

“There will be no representation for Sadiqoun tomorrow in the cabinet,” Aboudi said in a televised interview. “Their share will remain reserved, but participation will be postponed until this government is fully formed. The reason is linked to the issue of restricting weapons to state control.”

Sadiqoun is the political wing of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iran-aligned armed group within the Popular Mobilization Forces that is under U.S. sanctions. Aboudi said parliament was expected to vote Thursday on 15 ministries or more to secure approval through a simple majority.

Aboudi said the group supports a provision in the 2016 PMF law requiring members to sever political and organizational ties, and stressed its desire to end what he described as the “duality between the resistance and the state.” He said weapons should ultimately be restricted to state control, but insisted the decision must come from the Shiite Coordination Framework rather than from foreign pressure. “We will not accept any foreign country imposing its vision,” he said.

“We as Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Sadiqoun view these weapons as sacred,” he said. “But we believe there should be discussion, especially since the religious authority previously said weapons should be restricted to the state.”

Iraqi political figures have said the U.S. set conditions for engaging with the incoming government, including the exclusion of figures linked to armed groups from ministerial posts. Hussein al-Sheihani, a Sadiqoun political bureau member, said earlier that U.S. pressure “is a reality that cannot be denied” and that six ministries remained unresolved because of U.S. objections.