Official Position

At a time when the Iraqi people are placing their hopes on the fulfillment of commitments outlined in the ministerial agenda and the establishment of a state governed by institutions and the rule of law, they awoke on the morning of Sunday, July 27, 2025, to a serious incident in which an armed group affiliated with units of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) — specifically Brigade 45 and Brigade 46 — stormed a department of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Al-Karkh district of Baghdad and assaulted personnel from the Federal Police. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of two individuals and the injury of several civilians and members of the security forces.

This reprehensible act constitutes a blatant violation of state sovereignty, a grave breach of the law, and a flagrant disregard for the lives of Iraqis and the sanctity of their constitutional institutions. It also exposes a serious failure in the implementation of key provisions of the ministerial agenda — particularly those related to the exclusive control of arms by the state, as mandated by the Constitution and the law, and the dismantling of armed group activities outside legal authority.

This attack is not only an act of defiance against the state; it is also a direct affront to the guidance of the Supreme Religious Authority, which has repeatedly emphasized the urgent need to end the phenomenon of uncontrolled weapons — a major obstacle to the establishment of a stable and just state.

We in the Iraqi Istiklal Assembly condemn this criminal behavior in the strongest possible terms. We affirm that no real security or stability can be achieved while armed groups continue to operate outside the framework of the Constitution and the law, and while the chaos of unchecked weaponry persists.

We hold the government fully responsible for what has transpired, and we consider its silence or inaction to be a dangerous form of complicity — one that threatens civil peace and perpetuates the reality of a parallel state coexisting with, and undermining, the constitutional state.

Iraqi Istiklal Assembly
July 27, 2025