Iraq's Hakim: arms file must be resolved by Iraqis, not imposed from outside

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Iraq National Forces Alliance, renewed his call for weapons to be placed under state authority during an event in Baghdad marking the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's birth hosted by the Sunni Endowments Office. Hakim said the call was not a political slogan aimed at any side but a natural requirement for completing state justice and sovereignty. He described members of the armed forces and fighters as an inseparable part of the victory against terrorism and warned against approaching them with a logic of blame. He said the goal was not for the state to triumph over its sons or for its sons to triumph over the state, but for everyone to achieve victory for the state and with the state. Hakim called for dialogue, understanding and a phased roadmap, alongside protections for the dignity of combatants and for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) as an official institution established by law. He stressed that multi-centered decision-making and armed structures outside the institutional and constitutional framework must be brought to an end. He said the file, including its decisions, dialogue, timing and mechanisms, belonged entirely to Iraq. Hakim warned that managing it through accusatory language or a winner-loser logic could drag the country into conflicts with difficult consequences. He concluded by linking the effort to a strong and united Iraq in which no weapon stands above the state's and no decision rises above the state's, framing the step as a passage toward completing state institutions and preserving social peace.