The United States says the Baghdad government must act against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq
The US Embassy in Baghdad said on Saturday that all US citizens in Iraq should leave “immediately.” “Terrorist militias allied with Iran They attacked the international zone in central Baghdad on several occasions.”
The announcement came after a missile struck the helipad inside the US Embassy in Baghdad early Saturday.
Speaking about the background, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital: “The United States strongly condemns the attacks by Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist militias against U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities, civilian targets, and energy infrastructure in Iraq, particularly in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.”
The US Embassy in Baghdad is targeted as Iran launches attacks during Operation Epic Rage
A billboard bearing a picture of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who was killed in US and Israeli air strikes, appears along a street in Baghdad on March 9, 2026. (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The statement added: “As Secretary Rubio said, the Iraqi government must take all possible measures to protect US diplomatic personnel and facilities and ensure that militias cannot use Iraqi territory to threaten the United States or the region. Doing so is in Iraq’s interest. We reserve a range of options to protect our interests. We are not reviewing sanctions or sanctions measures.”
A Kurdish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Fox News Digital that the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq “are being paid and armed by Kurdish forces.” Iraqi government. They are on the Iraqi payroll. This is not the first time they have fired shots at the United States, the KRG, and the energy sector. “These Popular Mobilization Forces have brazenly attacked American military bases.”
According to the official, “many of these leaders (from the Popular Mobilization Forces) are part of the Sudanese government and his own coalition.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital on Sunday, an official at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, D.C., categorically denied the allegations against Al-Sudani. “We would like to state unequivocally that the allegations that the Prime Minister gave a ‘green light’ to any armed group to target American or Western interests are completely false. The Iraqi government has repeatedly affirmed its categorical rejection of any attacks on diplomatic missions or foreign interests.”
The representative added, “The Prime Minister also issued several statements in which he condemned such acts and described them as terrorist acts, and directed the relevant authorities to pursue those responsible and bring them to justice.”
Al-Sudani raised eyebrows last week when he congratulated the Islamic Republic of Iran’s choice of its new supreme leader. Mojtaba KhameneiThe son of the second supreme leader of Iran who was assassinated, Ali Khamenei. Al-Sudani said: “We express our confidence in the ability of the new leadership in the Islamic Republic of Iran to manage this sensitive stage, and to continue strengthening the unity of the Iranian people in facing the current challenges.”
When asked about Khamenei’s congratulatory statement, the Iraqi embassy official said: “This action falls within the scope of usual diplomatic practices carried out by many countries, including many Gulf states. Iraq maintains diplomatic relations with neighboring countries, including Iran, while at the same time ensuring balanced relations with all its regional and international partners.”
A member of the Imam Ali Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Movement in Iraq – a member faction of the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces – holds a photo of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (who was in a US drone strike in early 2020), while other members of the group gather with its flags during a march to commemorate the annual Quds Day in Baghdad on April 5, 2024. (AFP/Getty Images)
Intense attacks on the international anti-jihadist coalition in the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region on Friday led to the death of a French soldier and the wounding of six other people. According to France 24, the commanding officer, Colonel François-Xavier de la Chesne, said that the French soldier, Arnaud Frion, was killed by an Iranian-made Shahed drone.
“The Kurdistan region was targeted with seven explosive-laden drones early Saturday, as Iran and its proxy forces in Iraq continue to target the US consulate in Erbil and other military and civilian sites in the region,” Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported on Saturday. Rudaw said Since the start of US Operation Epic Fury, the Kurdistan region has been targeted by more than 300 drone and missile attacks, killing seven people and wounding 35 others.
The Kurdish official complained that “the Sudanese government is not serious in dealing with the militias because the militias are part of the government.” However, the official praised the United States, saying: “The Americans have been aggressively pursuing them over the past week with attacks on their (Popular Mobilization Forces) positions.”
US Embassy staff inspect damage from a bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Hadi Mezban/AFP)
According to a report in the Long War Journal, “airstrikes, likely carried out by the United States as part of the US-Israeli operation against the Islamic Republic, continued to target Iranian-backed Iraqi militias.” Neither the United States nor Israel commented on the reports of attacks on the Popular Mobilization Forces.
Fox News Digital obtained information in early March from the Israel Defense Forces that Drones were launched at Israel From Iraqi territory since the beginning of the war.
The Popular Mobilization Forces told the Iraqi News Agency that the American military forces carried out 32 air strikes on the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces since February 28.
The Kurdish official urged the Trump administration to “demand the Iraqi government to stop paying and arming the Popular Mobilization Forces and targeting its banking system that finances the Popular Mobilization Forces.” The official continued: “We exchanged information with the Iraqis and Americans, who in turn exchanged information with the Iraqi government.” Regarding the terrorist activities of the Popular Mobilization Forces, the official said, “The Sudanese government was not willing to confront them.”
Supporters gather in the Sadr neighborhood in Baghdad carrying Iranian flags and posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the announcement of his death in US-Israeli attacks, on March 1, 2026. (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The official expressed his regret that the Sudanese government initiated “a handful of arrests last year, and they were released on bail and were able to flee to Iran.” The Kurdistan Regional Government “provided information to the Iraqi government about the perpetrators” who fled to the Islamic Republic, the Kurdish official said.
An Iraqi official denied reports of PMF terrorists, saying: “I have not heard of anything like this. I think this is not true.”
The Kurdish official pointed to two PMF groups as the most aggressive toward the United States: Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah. The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Asaib Ahl al-Haq in March 2024. The State Department said that Asaib Ahl al-Haq “and its leaders are violent agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and that the group “receives extensive funding and training by the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
The US government imposed sanctions on Kataib Hezbollah in 2023. The Kurdish official also accused Al-Sudani’s government of imposing a ban on goods imported into Iraqi Kurdistan as a way to “strip us of our independence and everything we can build over 30 years.” The autonomous Kurdish government is widely considered a strong pro-American ally.
Fighters of Iranian-backed Shiite groups celebrate in a street, after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s attack on Israel, in Basra, Iraq, October 1, 2024. (Issam Al-Sudani/Reuters)
The Iraqi official denied the ban, saying: “The federal government does not pursue a ‘siege’ policy against the Kurdistan region. The current measures aim to unify the legal, customs and trade framework across all Iraqi borders in line with the federal constitution.”
“No country can afford contradictory internal trade and customs regulations, because this threatens to harm the national economy as a whole. Our goal is a unified and fair economic framework that protects state revenues while respecting the region’s specificities, and we believe that the best way to achieve this is dialogue and cooperation.”
Smoke rises from the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Ali Jabbar/AP Photo)
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“One could even describe the PMF as the Iraqi branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, effectively operating as a corps for the Iraqi Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Intifad Qanbar, a former spokesman for Iraq’s deputy prime minister, told Fox News Digital. “The PMF operates through a network of militias that frequently attack US forces, foreign interests and targets in Kurdistan.”
He called for “the dismantling of the parent organization – the Popular Mobilization Forces themselves. As long as the Popular Mobilization Forces exist, the militias operating under their umbrella will continue to attack American forces and regional targets.”
Fox News Digital correspondent Greg Norman Diamond contributed to this report.
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