March 29 – Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups are to be integrated into Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) under a new agreement finalized by Iraqi lawmakers, according to reports published by the Shafaq news agency.
The PMF is an Iraqi state security service which Iran has reportedly infiltrated and uses to wield significant influence in Iraq, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War. The agreement includes provisions that reportedly require the armed group to refrain from attacking US interests in Iraq and from conducting attacks outside of Iraq.
The move comes amid pressure by the US to dismantle the PMF and additional plans to sanction force leaders.
Britain’s former intelligence chief Sir Richard Dearlove said he could not understand why the UK had not listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle.
Dearlove, who was the head of MI6 from 1999 to 2004, said he understood the UK Home Office’s reasons, which are largely diplomatic, for not proscribing the armed group, but added that it should have been designated “a long time ago.”
The former MI6 chief also said the unit was a destabilizing force in the Middle East, as well as a threat to British jews in the UK with its long reach inside Muslim Shia communities in England sympathetic to Iran’s regime.
And Iran’s government unveiled a ‘missile city,’ in a video published by state media, as tensions in the Middle East remained high.
The video of the underground facility showcased some of Iran’s most advanced weapons, in an apparent attempt to infer that the state would be able to withstand military assaults from hostile states.
However, military analysts at the defense news website the War Zone who reviewed the video noticed the tunnels had a limited number of blast doors, which could trigger a chain reaction of secondary explosions causing significant damage if the site was targeted.
