https://arab.news/2ksct
A diplomatic crisis unfolded this week when Kuwait issued its second formal protest to Iraq’s envoy, followed hours later by Baghdad’s suspension of a number of senior security commanders. This sequence of events exposes a troubling reality: Iraq’s government publicly disavows attacks on neighboring states, yet lacks the enforcement mechanisms to prevent Iran-backed militias from targeting Gulf energy infrastructure. The fallout is damaging Baghdad’s ties with Gulf capitals.
Kuwait’s move was no diplomatic formality. It came with a pointed accusation: armed Iraqi factions had struck Kuwaiti soil. The demand was blunt: “concrete, actionable steps” to make the attacks stop.
Kuwaiti officials are under no illusion about the power dynamics inside Iraq. They know that Iran-backed militias routinely defy Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani. But that understanding only goes so far. By escalating diplomatically, Kuwait is highlighting a simple equation: if Baghdad holds sovereignty over its territory, then Baghdad is responsible for everything that comes out of it.
For anyone watching events on the ground, reassurances from Baghdad are starting to feel like background noise
Hassan Al-Mustafa
The Iraqi government’s own actions tell the same story. Relieving security officials in the Al-Mada’in sector and placing them in custody over a breach near Baghdad International Airport is, in effect, a confession — an admission that the state’s security apparatus failed in one of the most sensitive areas in the country. This did not happen in some remote borderland. It happened in the capital’s backyard. The implications cut to the bone.
Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has been unambiguous: Iraq rejects “any attack” against Gulf Arab states and Jordan, insisting that “the security of our Arab brothers is inseparable from Iraqi national security.” This clarity matters. It reframes the militia attacks not merely as a foreign relations headache but as a genuine internal security threat — one that breeds chaos, damages Iraq’s standing and undermines its interests.
But words have limits. Attacks keep happening. Armed factions keep claiming credit for them, proudly announcing they are fighting on Iran’s behalf. For anyone watching events on the ground, reassurances from Baghdad are starting to feel like background noise.
Gulf states and Jordan last week issued a joint statement that dispensed with diplomatic pleasantries. They condemned “attacks carried out by armed factions loyal to Iran from the Republic of Iraq against a number of countries in the region, as well as their facilities and infrastructure,” and called on Baghdad to act “immediately.”
That language marks a turning point. Saudi Arabia, in particular, went out of its way to support Al-Sudani. He took office backed by the Coordination Framework — a coalition stacked with Tehran’s allies — yet Riyadh chose pragmatism, investing in relations with his government in the hope that a stronger Iraqi state could gradually push back against militia dominance.
That bet is now being tested. With armed factions launching strikes on Gulf infrastructure, neighboring capitals are recalibrating. Iraq is no longer just a fragile postwar state deserving patience. It is a launchpad for threats that must be halted by a decisive Iraqi sovereign decision.
This is the knot at the center of the crisis. The Iraqi state says one thing; the armed factions do another
Hassan Al-Mustafa
The militias, meanwhile, are not subtle about their intentions. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed it downed an American refueling aircraft in western Iraq. Abu Alaa Al-Walai, a senior commander of Kata’ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada, went further, openly threatening Gulf states and Jordan and promising more attacks to come.
This is the knot at the center of the crisis. The Iraqi state says one thing; the armed factions do another. And Iraq’s neighbors have grown tired of parsing the difference between a government that cannot control its militias and one that will not. For Al-Sudani, that collapsing distinction is the real danger.
Washington is not waiting around either. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine declared that the US is conducting strikes against Iran-aligned militias inside Iraq to neutralize threats to American forces and interests. For Baghdad, this is a double blow. It partially strips the government of its sovereign prerogative to handle threats on its own territory and it sends an unmistakable signal that the era of American patience with Iraqi excuses is over.
Fundamentally, this transcends security mechanics. It reflects the broader collapse of Iraqi state capacity, the hollowing out of institutions through sectarian patronage networks, and the ascendance of armed factions over elected authority. When uncontrolled militias can spark regional crises, state credibility vanishes. When the government cannot enforce its monopoly on the use of force, neighboring nations withdraw their confidence.
- Hassan Al-Mustafa is a Saudi writer and researcher specializing in Islamist movements, the evolution of religious discourse, and relations between the Gulf states and Iran.
X: @Halmustafa