Hawzah News Agency- Ayatollah Seyyed Yasin al-Mousavi, a senior professor at the Najaf seminary, addressed the recent controversy surrounding the so-called "monopoly of weapons in the hands of the state," saying the debates have been marked by confusion and disarray in the political and media arenas. He warned against attempts to define "state weapons" according to the American perspective or political agendas aimed at weakening Iraq.
In his Friday sermon in Baghdad, Ayatollah Mousavi stressed that opposition to "unregulated weapons outside state control" is a firm and established position, with religious authorities repeatedly emphasizing the necessity of weapons serving the state. However, the core issue lies in defining legitimate weapons, not names and labels.
He noted that the supreme religious authority has taken a clear stance in calling for the organization and control of weapons, and Iraq's own experiences have proven the dangers of arms outside the legal framework. Nevertheless, some parties are attempting to limit the concept of "state weapons" solely to the army, police and a number of official institutions.
The Baghdad Friday prayer leader stated: "The matter is not about names and titles, but about the reality and function of weapons in protecting the state and the nation."
Fall of Mosul: A Test for Defining State Weapons
Ayatollah Mousavi pointed to the fall of Mosul in 2014 as an example demonstrating that merely holding the title of a military institution is not sufficient to guarantee the country's protection.
"Four military divisions collapsed within hours, handing over advanced weapons and vast sums to the ISIS terrorist group," he said. "In contrast, volunteers who answered the religious authority's fatwa on collective duty relied on the support of the Iraqi people for food and logistics due to the severe shortage of military resources at the time."
Ayatollah Mousavi added: "It was the Husseini processions that took on the responsibility of feeding hundreds of thousands of volunteers, while barracks faced shortages of weapons and training."
He stressed that the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Sha'abi) are part of the Iraqi state's weapons, as they entered the battlefield in response to the religious authority's fatwa and in defense of Iraq. Legitimacy, he said, must be measured by genuine affiliation with the state and defense of the country, not merely by titles and administrative structures.
"Hashd is the state's weapon, and the resistance weapon is the same one that played a role in the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq — a reality that the Americans themselves have acknowledged," the Baghdad Friday prayer leader said.
He described labeling the resistance weapon as "militia weapons" as an attempt to distort its role, emphasizing that this is "the weapon of resistance and liberation" that must be respected because it has defended Iraq's soil and sovereignty.
Criticism of Iraqi Army's Weapons Dependence on America
Ayatollah Mousavi called on the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces to diversify weapons sources and free the army from America's weapons monopoly in order to strengthen the country's military.
"If you want to reform the military institution, you must procure aircraft and heavy weapons from other countries and rebuild the army's capabilities in a way that guarantees Iraq's independence in decision-making," he said.
The Baghdad Friday prayer leader also sharply criticized US President Donald Trump and American envoy Tom Barrack, describing Washington's imposition of deadlines on Iraq regarding resistance group weapons as unacceptable interference in the country's internal affairs.
"No foreign power has the right to interfere in Iraq's sovereign decisions," he stressed, criticizing Washington's attempts to impose its views on the Iraqi government.
Call for Equal Treatment of All Armed Formations
Ayatollah Mousavi further stated that other weapons exist outside state authority that must also be addressed. He pointed to Peshmerga forces and certain formations affiliated with foreign parties, calling for unified standards to be applied to all armed formations.
He also demanded an end to all forms of foreign military presence in Iraq, whether American or Turkish forces, emphasizing that protecting Iraq's sovereignty requires strong and independent Iraqi forces, and that the country's future must be built by the Iraqi people based on their own will, not foreign dictates.
In his concluding remarks, Ayatollah Seyyed Yasin al-Mousavi said that if America does not accept the Islamic Republic of Iran's conditions, it will be forced to withdraw from the region.
He added that Iran has entered a phase of "military resolution," asserting that Iranian forces possess the capability to expel American forces from the region.
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