Bloc sets final deadline for return of PMF law but won’t say when it falls

BAGHDAD — The Sadiqoun parliamentary bloc demanded Saturday that the government send a stalled law governing the Popular Mobilization Forces back to parliament, calling its deadline for doing so a final opportunity and warning of oversight action if it passes, without saying what the deadline is or what action would follow.

Bloc leader Uday Awad told a news conference monitored by 964media that Sadiqoun had written to the Council of Ministers asking it to complete the required procedures and submit the bill. “The PMF law file can no longer tolerate further delay or procrastination,” he said. “The specified deadline for sending the draft Popular Mobilization Forces law represents the final opportunity, and any delay after that will be unjustified.” He said parliament would use its constitutional and supervisory powers to force the bill’s return, that Sadiqoun would begin a package of measures once the period expires, and that passing the law was “a national and constitutional entitlement” protecting PMF members and the families of those killed or wounded in service.

Sadiqoun is the political wing of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iran-aligned armed group whose forces operate within the PMF. In June, the group formed a committee to inventory its personnel, weapons, vehicles and equipment and to separate its forces from the PMF structure, under a government initiative to restrict weapons to state control. It is among several factions that have moved to comply; Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have rejected disarmament.

The bill would replace or expand the 2016 law that recognized the PMF as part of Iraq’s security forces under the commander-in-chief, defining the force’s command structure, powers, formations, and administrative and financial arrangements, along with the status and rights of its personnel.

Parliament completed a second reading in July 2025 after Shia blocs put it on the agenda. Most Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers walked out, objecting that it was proceeding without prior political agreement, and the draft went to the Security and Defense Committee for revisions. The government withdrew it in August last year, after objections to provisions establishing the PMF as a permanent military institution with broad operational, administrative and financial powers.

Then-National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji said afterward that his office had asked for consideration to be postponed until after parliamentary elections, arguing the bill needed broader public discussion and political consensus. The United States also objected: in a July 2025 call with then-Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned the legislation would institutionalize the influence of Iran-aligned armed groups. Sudani defended it as security-sector reform and said the PMF was a formal state institution under the commander-in-chief. Then-parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said the following month that outside pressure over the bill could affect Iraq’s security and economy and that it need not be enacted then.

As of June 2026 the bill was among more than 100 pieces of legislation awaiting parliamentary action. A member of parliament’s Legal Committee said the previous government had withdrawn several proposals for amendment and redrafting and called on the new government to return them.