Hashd al-Shaabi’s Fatih Coalition considers confederation with Iran if they win elections

The Shia official said they would not allow Saudi Arabia or the United States “to interfere” in electing the next prime minister of Iraq as “we do not even take their opinion.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A senior member of the Hashd al-Shaabi’s al-Fatih (Conquer) electoral coalition on Monday said he expects the next prime minister of Iraq to be elected from the Iran-backed electoral coalition.

Rahim al-Daraji, a senior member of the al-Fatih Coalition, told al-Ahd television that the electoral coalition consists of various Iranian-backed Shia militia factions and has close relations with Iran.

“If Hadi al-Amiri [Head of al-Fatih Coalition] wins the parliamentary elections, Iraq will be connected to Iran within a federal union,” Daraji said, adding that this was al-Fatih’s main project.

The next Iraqi government will include all “jihadists” who fought alongside Iran during the 1980s war against the former Iraqi regime led by Saddam Hussein, Daraji told al-Ahd, a media outlet affiliated to the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia group.

He added that all the personnel within Shia electoral lists in Iraq and all the nominees for the prime minister role “have good ties with Iran.”

The Shia official said they would not allow Saudi Arabia or the United States “to interfere” in electing the next prime minister of Iraq as “we do not even take their opinion.”

On April 8, Brig. Gen. Gholamhossein Gheybparvar, commander of the Basij force—one of the five forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—and Iraj Masjedi, Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, who previously worked as an adviser to the commander of the IRGC, Qassem Soleimani, supervised a meeting with the al-Fatih electoral coalition in Baghdad.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a US-designated terrorist, and the Deputy Commander of the Hashd al-Shaabi, previously said the group would not hesitate to highlight Iran’s role and support for the Shia militias in Iraq.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany