BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraq’s political leadership is advancing legislation to formalize the status of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) while pursuing a parallel arrangement to store weapons held by anti-terror resistance factions at PMF facilities, according to a Coordination Framework source.
Under the proposal, factions would transfer their arsenals to PMF warehouses rather than to Defense or Interior Ministry facilities or the Counter-Terrorism Service. 
Official security representatives could oversee the handover. Political leaders have described the process as “managing the factions’ weapons” rather than disarming them.
The arrangement comes as Baghdad faces competing pressures: a government push to bring all weapons under state control, alongside external demands, particularly from Washington, to undermine and neutralize the Iraqi resistance factions. 
The anti-terror resistance factions, which were instrumental in defeating the Daesh group when its brutal terrorists reached the gates of Baghdad in 2014, have retained significant military capacity and political influence. 
At the time of the Daesh advance, U.S. forces largely stood aside, leaving Iraqi resistance groups to lead the ground campaign that eventually broke the terrorist group’s grip on vast swaths of the country.
Today, these same factions represent the primary political force pushing Baghdad to resist U.S. hegemony, which critics say has long dictated Iraqi policy and maintained control over the country’s oil revenues through financial leverage. 
Washington, with implicit Israeli backing, has sought to weaken these groups, viewing them as obstacles to U.S. strategic objectives in the region.
The Coordination Framework source said political leaders had agreed to accelerate passage of the PMF Service and Retirement Law before the end of September. The bill is expected to be referred to parliament’s Security and Defense and Legal committees before being brought for a vote.
The proposed amendments cover military ranks and career progression, retirement benefits, and compensation for personnel killed or wounded in service. They also address the PMF’s structure and the status of personnel who joined during the 2014 war against the Islamic State.
The legislation was approved by former Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani’s government in 2025 and referred to parliament, but was later withdrawn amid political disputes. Its revival would strengthen the PMF’s legal standing within Iraq’s security architecture.
The weapons arrangement is expected to take effect only after the Global Coalition completes its military withdrawal from Iraq and the PMF law is passed, the source said. 
September 30 has been set as the date for the end of the coalition’s mission, though State of Law Coalition member Zuhair al-Chalabi said Sunday that efforts to bring weapons under state control remained unresolved and that the deadline was not firm.