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Source: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-backed-militias-in-iraq/
Iran Tells Iraqi Militias Not to Disarm
(Responsible Statecraft) Elfadil Ibrahim - Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, the branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for backing armed allies abroad, met in Baghdad on Aug. 10 with Iraqi militia commanders and officials from the Iran-aligned Shia parties that dominate Iraq's parliament. Qaani reportedly pressed the militants to keep their weapons rather than hand them to the government. The Iraqi government, under intense American pressure, has set a Sep. 30 deadline for all militias operating outside state authority to disarm. Two factions said they would place their weapons under state authority. However, Iraqi media reported that the handover ceremonies involved mostly scrap weapons, and that no independent mechanism exists to verify that heavier weapons, like drones and missiles, have actually changed hands. Asharq al-Awsat reported that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf - one of Iran's chief negotiators with the U.S. - visited Baghdad Wednesday and pitched a plan to conceal the factions' heavier weapons or relocate them to Iran. Complete disarmament of the hardline factions requires two things not currently on offer: Iran deciding the militias are no longer worth protecting, and the Iraqi state actually using force against members of its own governing coalition. The former is unlikely, and the latter could be disastrous.