Iraqi militias
Iraq ‘surprised’ at US sanctions for top PMU militia leader
Iraq voiced surprise Saturday after the US Treasury imposed “unacceptable” sanctions against Falih al-Fayyadh, leader of the state-sponsored Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militia, a powerful pro-Iranian paramilitary network.
Fayyadh is one of the most senior Iraqi state officials to be placed on the US sanctions blacklist.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Washington has been threatening for months to impose sanctions on Iraqis with close ties to Iran or accused of human rights violations, and the US Treasury said Fayyadh was responsible for brutal attacks on protesters in October 2019.
Fayyadh’s former deputy, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed in US drone strike a year ago alongside Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
A member of Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Unit (PMU) militias walks out from the headquarters of the seventh brigade in Basra. (File photo: Reuters)
But Iraq’s foreign ministry called the blacklisting “surprising and unacceptable,” and said it would “work to rectify” similar US moves against Iraqis, whether by outgoing President Donald Trump or his successor, Joe Biden.
The sanctions, announced Friday, seek to freeze any assets a designated person has under US jurisdiction and bans American firms – including banks and other companies with US branches – from doing business with them.
It poses a thorny problem for Fayyadh, an international businessman who has also been sent by Baghdad as an envoy to the US, Iran and the Gulf.
Iraqi national security adviser Qassem al-Araji said sanctions targeting a senior government official were an “error.”
But several pro-Iran groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement congratulated Fayyadh for the “honorary badge” of sanctions, saying it signaled his services to the “resistance.”
Read more:
US sanctions Iraq’s PMU militia leader Falih al-Fayyadh on human rights abuses
US extends sanctions waiver for Iraq to import Iranian gas: Iraqi official
US threatens Baghdad with sanctions over Iran-backed militia attacks in Iraq: Sources
US sanctions Iranian ambassador to Iraq, two senior Hezbollah officials
Also Read
-
US sanctions Iraq’s PMU militia leader Falih al-Fayyadh on human rights abuses
The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Unit militia Chairman and former National Security Advisor Falih al-Fayyadh on ... Middle East -
Slain Iraqi al-Hashemi’s papers expose PMU criminal activities in Basra, Salahuddin
One of the latest unpublished papers of slain Iraqi researcher Hisham al-Hashemi exposed the criminal activities committed by the Iran-backed Popular ... Features -
Unpublished work by slain Iraqi activist al-Hashemi shows PMU’s corruption in Nineveh
Unpublished work by assassinated Iraqi researcher Hisham al-Hashemi proved the level of corruption by the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) ... Features
