Trump Warned al-Zaidi in Nov. 5 Call He Would Strike Iraqi Factions if They Back Iran

Key Facts

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi that Washington would strike Iraqi armed factions and their leaders if they joined a renewed war in support of Iran, according to informed sources cited by Shafaq News. The report said the warning came in a phone call between the two on Nov. 5. The message puts the possibility that Iraqi factions could intervene in any new confrontation with Iran at the center of relations between Washington and Baghdad. The sources did not identify the factions targeted or provide further details of the threat. The report also did not specify particular headquarters, referring instead to armed factions and their leaders.

The White House and al-Zaidi’s office did not disclose details of the call, Shafaq News reported, basing its account of the warning on unnamed sources. The prime minister’s office said in its public statement that the call addressed regional developments, security and the outlook for the coming period. It said al-Zaidi stressed that Iraqi territory should not be used to launch attacks on neighboring countries. Al-Zaidi called for peaceful solutions to protect regional security, according to the Associated Press. The details of the threat attributed to the sources therefore remained separate from the public statement, which presented Baghdad’s position on the use of its territory.

In Shafaq News’ account, Trump offered Baghdad full U.S. support for efforts to place all weapons under state control. The sources linked the support to another warning, saying any further delay or backtracking would prompt Washington to reassess its support for al-Zaidi and his government. That puts the weapons issue directly at the center of U.S. messages to the Iraqi government, alongside the warning against factions joining the war. Shafaq News said the agreement with the government calls for regulating faction weapons and placing them under state control during the period from September 2026 to June 2027. It noted that some groups do not regard this process as a surrender of their weapons.

Al-Zaidi had made disarming armed groups a priority since taking office in May, according to Al Jazeera. Reuters reported in September that al-Zaidi had pledged to disarm powerful groups by September 30, the same deadline set for the withdrawal from Iraq of the remaining forces in the U.S.-led international coalition. But five Iran-aligned armed groups rejected the government’s deadline to hand over their weapons, disband their organizations and integrate into government security forces, Reuters reported. These positions show how difficult it will be to implement the plan to put weapons under state control amid armed groups’ rejection of government demands. The deadline extending through June 2027 also makes this a test of Baghdad’s effort to bring weapons under state authority.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein warned that dragging Iraqi society into war would lead to catastrophe, saying society and the armed forces were not prepared for it. He also said Iraq did not want to become a battlefield and was not part of any axis. The position comes amid a steep economic cost of the war: Iraq has lost more than 60 billion dollars in oil revenue since it began, Al Jazeera reported. It added that about 90% of Iraq’s oil exports normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil accounts for about 90% of Iraq’s federal budget, according to Al Jazeera, tying export disruptions directly to state revenue.

The International Monetary Fund, in data published during October 2026, forecast that Iraq’s real gross domestic product would contract by 16% in 2026. The fund said the region’s outlook depends on how quickly energy production and trade return to normal, and on countries’ ability to maintain macroeconomic stability. This places the prevention of a wider confrontation in an economic context that goes beyond direct security risks, given Baghdad’s heavy reliance on oil. Reuters had reported an earlier incident showing the sensitivity of the factions issue: the detention of a senior intelligence official in Harakat al-Nujaba for 48 hours prompted threats of retaliation before senior Shiite politicians intervened to contain tensions. The announced timetable for regulating weapons runs through June 2027, while the White House and al-Zaidi’s office have disclosed no further details of the Nov. 5 call.