Popular Mobilisation Forces

A PMF member holds a picture of Iran's late and current supreme leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (R) and Ali Khamenei to mark annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day commemorations in Baghdad on April 5, 2024.

Iraq moves to give PMF greater role in state security

The US wants this huge Iran-aligned group to disband, but with 240,000 personnel, an arsenal of weapons, and a $3.4bn annual budget, the PMF is closer to becoming an integral part of the Iraqi state

Ayad Al-Anbar 03, Apr 2025

Mourners march with a symbolic coffin during a memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut days earlier, in Baghdad's Sadr City on September 29, 2024.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP

Iraqi militias open a cautious front to help Hezbollah

On Monday, three rockets were fired at the Victoria military base in Baghdad hosting US troops. A day earlier, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed a drone attack on the Israeli port city of Eilat.

Salam Zaidan 01, Oct 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to declare the annexation of the Russian-controlled territories of four Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, in Moscow, Russia, September 30, 2022. Sputnik/Grigory Sysoyev/Pool via REUTERS

Putin Gives Final Approval to Ukraine Annexation Plan Despite Retreats

Russian President Vladimir Putin formalised the annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Wednesday despite major battlefield reversals in recent days shrinking the amount of seized territory Moscow…

05, Oct 2022

Russian law enforcement officers lead away a person during a rally, after opposition activists called for street protests against the mobilisation of reservists ordered by President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Russia September 24, 2022. REUTERS

Complaints About Russia's Chaotic Mobilization Grow

The strongly pro-Kremlin editor of Russia's state-run RT news channel expressed anger on Saturday that enlistment officers were sending call-up papers to the wrong men, as frustration about a…

25, Sep 2022

Russian paratroopers walk before boarding Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes as they take part in the military exercises "Zapad-2021" staged by the armed forces of Russia and Belarus at an aerodrome in Kaliningrad Region, Russia, September 13, 2021. REUTERS/Vitaly Nevar

Reaction to Russia Mobilising More Troops for Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two and warned that Moscow would defend itself with the might of all its vast arsenal if faced with a nuclear…

21, Sep 2022

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Iran's nuclear programme is damaged, but its determination is heightened

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Israeli and Iranian claims of victory ring hollow

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Netanyahu did not realise his goal of ending Iran's nuclear programme and regime change, and Iran stood alone in its war with Israel, as global and regional allies left it to fend for itself

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses Iranians on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (portrait), in Tehran on June 4, 2025.

KHAMENEI.IR / AFP

Profiles

Ali Khamenei: the guardian of Iran's strategic patience doctrine

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For decades, Iran's supreme leader—first Khomeini, then Khamenei—pursued a strategy of backing regional militias to fight Israel, but with the 'resistance axis' in tatters, Iran is left to fight alone

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LATEST ISSUE

Iraq moves to give PMF greater role in state security

Iraqi militias open a cautious front to help Hezbollah

Putin Gives Final Approval to Ukraine Annexation Plan Despite Retreats

Complaints About Russia's Chaotic Mobilization Grow

Reaction to Russia Mobilising More Troops for Ukraine

Shaky Israel-Iran ceasefire points to unfinished business

Counting the cost of the Israel-Iran war

Attacks on Iran make a nuclear bomb more likely

Israeli and Iranian claims of victory ring hollow

Ali Khamenei: the guardian of Iran's strategic patience doctrine

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