State media in Iran have published images showing Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters entering Khuzestan, provoking anger and revulsion among many Iranians, who say these proxy forces are repeatedly brought into the country to kill protesters and defend the ruling system.
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On Tuesday, Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of the ruling establishment, wrote in a post on X/Twitter, a platform that has been blocked for ordinary Iranians for years, thanking the “Muslim people of Iraq” for standing by the people of Iran in what he called this “unjust” war. He also wrote, “I warmly shake the hands of the people, officials, and fighters of Iraq in Mesopotamia.”
Although domestic media have not disclosed how many PMF fighters have entered Iran, residents of Khuzestan say at least 1,000 armed members of the force, carrying its official flags, have entered the province under the guise of a “relief convoy,” arriving with vehicles and military equipment.
They add that others may also have entered the country unofficially and covertly. Under Article 146 of the Islamic Republic’s own constitution, the stationing of armed foreign military forces on Iranian soil is illegal. In previous years, the deployment of Russian forces at a military base inside Iran drew sharp criticism from the press and even from some members of parliament on precisely those grounds.
People 'angered and distressed' by PMF arrival
A resident of Khorramshahr told The Media Line early Wednesday that people were deeply angered and distressed by the arrival of Shiite PMF forces, with some saying Khorramshahr had once again fallen under Iraqi occupation 44 years later.
During the Iran-Iraq War, Khorramshahr was occupied by the Iraqi army for nearly two years. The resident added that PMF fighters have been deployed not only in Khorramshahr but also in Abadan and Ahvaz, and are reportedly expected to remain in those cities so that, in the event of street protests, armed clashes, or even a possible US ground assault, they can support military forces in Khuzestan province.
It has also been reported that some PMF units entered Iran last January and assisted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the massacre of civilians. Some protesters say they saw non-Persian-speaking armed men in Tehran shooting at demonstrators.
A video has also circulated on social media that appears to show PMF fighters leaving the country after the bloody suppression of protesters, during which, according to human rights organizations, at least around 10,000 people were killed over the course of January 8 and 9 and the days that followed.
The PMF also played a broad role, alongside proxy forces including Hezbollah, in crushing the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in the autumn of 2022 in Tehran and several other cities. At the time, the prolonged nationwide protests led by women had weakened and exhausted the regime’s domestic repressive apparatus, and eyewitnesses reported the presence of these forces in various parts of Tehran.
Iran uses mercenary groups to supress public protests
In recent years, the Islamic Republic has not only used the PMF and, in some cases, Hezbollah, but has also relied on several other mercenary groups that maintain military bases inside Iran, including the Fatemiyoun Division, made up of Afghan Shiites, and the Zainabiyoun Brigade, composed of Pakistani Shiites, to suppress major public protests.
In most cases, these forces are dispatched from their bases inside Iran to support the IRGC and the Basij. PMF fighters, however, do not usually maintain a permanent base inside the country.
PMF elements are unofficially present at the Ghayour barracks in Ahvaz, a field training center for Arabic-speaking forces, mostly Iraqis and Lebanese. Other Islamic Republic proxy groups are also present there, including Kata’ib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and smaller groups such as Saraya Awliya al-Dam.
Unlike the PMF, which tries to present itself as a popular force supported by Iraqi Shiites and, despite recent tensions, is still at least on paper considered part of Iraq’s official armed structure, the other groups function largely as the Islamic Republic’s foot soldiers in Iraq, carrying out terrorist and sabotage operations against Kurds, kidnappings, assassinations, and other criminal acts against opponents of the Islamic Republic, as well as attacks on targets chosen by Tehran and on US bases.
The PMF also has a significant presence at the IRGC’s military academy, where officers and commanders for the group are trained. Core members of the organization also travel regularly to Qom for ideological and political instruction.
The Islamic Republic is drawing on the PMF, which has extensive experience in urban warfare, to suppress protesters, to prepare for the possibility of urban conflict inside Iran, to help control cities in the event of a US ground assault, and to reinforce its own military forces, which have been severely weakened and are now reportedly mobilizing Basij members as young as 12 to help control urban areas.
Shukriyga Bradost, an analyst of Middle Eastern security affairs, told The Media Line: “PMF’s open entry into Iran is driven by the fact that this proxy group needs to keep the Islamic Republic on its feet by any means necessary.” She added: “The fall of this regime would effectively mean the end of the PMF and other Shiite groups tied to the Islamic Republic regime.”
According to Bradost, PMF forces are being brought into Iran so that the Islamic Republic can use them in the event of a US ground operation. “If there is a collapse within the regime’s military ranks, they could use the PMF against the United States, because since 2009 this group has had both experience fighting the Americans and also cooperating with them in Iraq, and therefore has greater familiarity with US military forces,” she said.
The analyst and international security researcher at Virginia Tech, speaking about why PMF forces were not struck by the United States or Israel before entering Iran, said: “One possible explanation is that if these forces are used to massacre protesters, tensions between Iranian forces and the demonstrators with them could intensify, leading to military confrontation and even civil war.”
According to reports, PMF fighters have been stationed in sensitive areas of Abadan, near the oil refinery. They are said to be part of a battalion that entered Khuzestan in recent days from both the Basra border and the Shalamcheh crossing in (mostly) Toyota Hilux vehicles, fully equipped militarily, carrying Iraqi flags, and were welcomed by officials of the ruling regime.
Meanwhile, several PMF brigades in Iraq that had taken part in attacks against Iranian Kurdish forces in the Kurdistan Region and had also threatened US positions have come under attack by American forces, with several of their members reportedly killed.
Iraq worries about possible US response
Iraqi officials, worried about a possible US response to the dispatch of PMF forces into Iran, are said to believe that the Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani’s government has implicitly expressed opposition to the entry of PMF fighters—who are formally regarded as part of Iraq’s armed structure—into Iran, and, according to Arab media reports, has stressed that only the commander-in-chief may authorize the movement of Iraqi armed forces.
Despite his closeness to the Islamic Republic, Sudani had previously also signaled concern that Iraq could be turned into a battlefield in a conflict between Iran and the United States. Other Iraqi officials and politicians, meanwhile, have likewise warned that Iraq must not be drawn into a war between Iran and America.
In recent days, some Arab media outlets have reported that Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is considered part of the PMF, also entered Khuzestan without coordination with the Iraqi government. Al-Araby al-Jadeed has also reported that several armed groups allied with the regime ruling Iran, including Kata’ib Hezbollah, have defied military and security directives issued by the Iraqi government requiring them to stay away from border areas and parts of Baghdad, while Baghdad has so far remained silent on the matter.
At the same time, Sufyan al-Samarrai, former editor-in-chief of Baghdad Post, wrote on X that, contrary to the claims of Iran’s ruling regime, the PMF convoy did not consist of food aid but was secretly carrying “important equipment, concealed light weapons, and missiles mounted on PMF pickup trucks, in preparation for street warfare in Iranian cities.”
On Tuesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein also acknowledged in an interview with Al Arabiya that Iraq had been drawn into the war between Iran and the United States against its will.
This comes as the PMF’s own political current in Iraq has, in recent years—especially after the killing of Ali Khamenei—become increasingly fractured. A faction that now identifies more with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shiite religious authority in Iraq, and with Muqtada al-Sadr than with acting as a mercenary arm of the Islamic Republic is moving away from Tehran’s line.
Both Sadr and Sistani are increasingly distancing themselves from the Islamic Republic. Sistani did not issue a specific message naming Mojtaba Khamenei as leader of the Islamic Republic, and his office merely wished success to the “successor” of the former leader.
Sadr, for his part, confined himself to posting a message on X after Ali Khamenei’s death. This points to a deepening rift between a significant segment of Iraq’s Shiite religious establishment and the Islamic Republic, a conflict that naturally places the PMF itself in the midst of that crisis.
Earlier, amid these disagreements, some PMF elements, including the Abbas Combat Division, had broken away and joined the Iraqi Ministry of Defense directly. The force is now divided between a pro-velayat faction that serves the Islamic Republic and a marjaiya faction loyal to Sistani. Another group, Saraya al-Salam, identifies itself as taking orders from Sadr.
However, it seems the PMF is now losing support in Iraq, even among Shiites, and far more people have turned away from it than a few years ago. In a recent poll conducted by the IIACSS research group, trust in the pro-velayat faction of the force across Iraqi society fell to around 28%, partly due to its service to the Islamic Republic in Iraq.
Social media posts show aversion to PMF presence
Iranian and Iraqi social media users alike have posted against the PMF's presence on X, Telegram, and TikTok. Supporters of the Tishreen movement, using the hashtag “Iraq is not (Iran’s) backyard,” have sharply criticized the economic consequences of PMF forces entering Iran.
Iranian users, meanwhile, have expressed astonishment that the PMF was not attacked by Israel or the United States, and, worried about the likely reasons behind the Iraqi proxy group’s entry into Iran, have been discussing various scenarios.
One user named Mahtab wrote: “The country’s infrastructure has been destroyed, but the regime is still standing, and the PMF enters the country without coming under air attack. Isn’t that strange?”