{"id":10563,"date":"2025-09-20T12:05:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatamericanewsdesk.com\/?p=10563"},"modified":"2025-09-20T12:05:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:05:28","slug":"trump-designates-iran-backed-groups-in-iraq-terrorist-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatamericanewsdesk.com\/featured\/trump-designates-iran-backed-groups-in-iraq-terrorist-organizations\/njackson\/2025\/09\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Designates Iran-Backed Groups In Iraq Terrorist Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a decisive move to confront Iran\u2019s destabilizing influence in the Middle East, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday officially designated four Iran-backed Iraqi militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)<\/strong>. The groups\u2014Harakat al-Nujaba, Kata\u2019ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, and Kata\u2019ib al-Imam Ali<\/strong>\u2014have long served as armed proxies for Tehran, attacking U.S. and coalition forces and threatening American diplomats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All four groups were previously sanctioned by the Treasury Department as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs)<\/strong> in 2023, but the new designations escalate U.S. pressure by invoking additional legal penalties, travel bans, and asset freezes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIran-aligned militia groups have conducted attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and bases hosting U.S. and Coalition forces, typically using front names or proxy groups to obfuscate their involvement,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/strong> said in the announcement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Iran\u2019s Proxy War Network: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD)<\/strong>, these four militias form the backbone of a Tehran-controlled umbrella organization known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI)<\/strong>. The IRI surged in prominence after Hamas launched its deadly October 7, 2023 assault on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the IRI has claimed or been linked to hundreds of rocket, drone, and IED attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan<\/strong>. U.S. officials say the network was responsible for the January 2024 drone attack in Jordan that killed three American service members<\/strong>, marking one of the deadliest assaults on U.S. troops in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Trump administration broke the taboo during term one when it proved it could name, shame, and punish Iran-backed militias in Iraq without the country devolving into civil war,\u201d said Behnam Ben Taleblu<\/strong>, senior director of the FDD\u2019s Iran program. \u201cNow in term two the administration is upping the ante continuing a campaign of designations against the agents of influence and terror of Iran in Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Popular Mobilization Forces: A Trojan Horse for Tehran<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The four newly designated groups are also part of Iraq\u2019s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)<\/strong>\u2014a nominally state-run coalition originally created to fight ISIS, but which has been heavily infiltrated and directed by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cTehran relies on these militias to literally have a state within a state in Iraq,\u201d Ben Taleblu warned. \u201cSandwiching these and other Iran-backed terror groups between Treasury Department [Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons] SDN listings and State Department [Foreign Terrorist Organizations] FTO listings, as the Trump administration previously did with their patron, the IRGC, in term one is the right approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Trump\u2019s Proven Record on Targeting Terror Groups<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This new wave of designations continues the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive posture against Iran and its terror proxies. In 2019<\/strong>, the administration made history by designating the IRGC itself as a Foreign Terrorist Organization<\/strong>\u2014the first time the U.S. had ever used the FTO label on part of another nation\u2019s military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same year, U.S. forces conducted a precision strike in Baghdad killing Qasem Soleimani<\/strong>, the commander of the IRGC\u2019s elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis<\/strong>, the deputy commander of the PMF and leader of the Iran-backed Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah<\/strong> militia, another group long designated as an FTO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Iran-backed entities targeted by the Trump administration included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n