Iraq's Interior Ministry denies curfew plans as weapons deadline nears

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Interior Ministry has denied reports that a curfew will be imposed across the country when a deadline for transferring weapons to state control expires on September 30. Brigadier General Mikdad Miri, head of the ministry's Press and Relations Department, told a press conference of the National Committee for Regulating and Collecting State-Owned Weapons that no curfew order has been issued. Miri said the reports were inaccurate and described the process as based on technical procedures, with no active directive currently in place. Security and military commands have prepared deployment plans for various scenarios ahead of the late-September deadline, and some commanders have had their leave canceled. On the political front, the State Administration Coalition has warned that after the deadline, armed activity outside official state institutions will be addressed under counterterrorism law. Armed groups have responded in different ways. Some have said they are willing to reorganize their military relations with the state, while others have conditioned any handover on the departure of foreign military forces from Iraq.