Several Iraqi Shiite militias are involved in suppressing the Iranian protests, according to information obtained by The Media Line from multiple sources.
No confirmed information is available on the exact number of Iraqi militias participating in quelling the demonstrations, and the reported figures vary widely.
Mohammed Iyad, a 37-year-old Iraqi, was recruited by the Iraqi Hezbollah group for $600 a month, his mother told The Media Line.
She said that her son had been unemployed for over three years. On Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, a friend offered him $600 a month to go and defend the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
“Despite our refusal, he insisted on going. He left on Tuesday, Jan. 6, and said he went to Basra and then to the Iranian border via the Shalamcheh border crossing. We lost contact with him on Wednesday after the internet went down,” she added.
“I don’t know if he’ll return or not. I’m very affected, and I hope he comes back alive. He previously participated in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), but he was dismissed after 2017 and the liberation from ISIS. Since then, the idea of fighting and taking up arms has haunted him, and he hasn’t been able to forget it,” his mother continued.
Ali D., who declined to give his full name, is an employee of the Iraqi Interior Ministry working at the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iraq and Iran. He told The Media Line that more than 60 buses had crossed the border between Iraq and Iran by Sunday evening, Jan. 11. Each bus had a capacity of 50 people, and while they were identified as pilgrims to holy sites in Iran, he said their appearance didn’t reflect that.
All the buses that left were carrying only young men wearing identical black shirts
“These religious trips usually carry the logos of well-known companies or offices, and the buses are typically mixed, with families and young people. However, all the buses that left were carrying only young men wearing identical black shirts,” he said.
“I saw them. I was on duty at the time. We discussed the presence of all these buses that left without us knowing their destination, and they left without being inspected,” he added.
Abu Azrael, a prominent commander in the Imam Ali Brigades, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia operating under the umbrella of the PMF, posted a video of himself directing military vehicles leaving an Iraqi Interior Ministry camp.
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The video shows military vehicles leaving the 8th Unit of the Law Enforcement Command of the Iraqi Federal Police. Azrael accompanied the video with a comment: “Whoever burns houses of worship and attacks the people’s institutions is neither a revolutionary nor a reformer, but rather a cheap tool in the hands of the nation’s enemies, implementing Zionist agendas under the guise of chaos and false slogans … with the Republic against global arrogance.”
Whether these military vehicles — seen in the widely circulated video bearing Iraqi government license plates belonging to the Interior Ministry, and displaying the flags of the PMF and the Imam Ali Brigades—actually reached Iran has not been verified.
This regime has spent billions of dollars belonging to the Iranian people on terrorist proxy forces. Deploying those forces against its own citizens would be yet another profound betrayal of the Iranian people.
The US State Department’s Persian-language account on the X social media platform noted that the US is alarmed by reports that the Islamic Republic regime has deployed Hezbollah terrorists and Iraqi militants to suppress peaceful protests, commenting that “this regime has spent billions of dollars belonging to the Iranian people on terrorist proxy forces. Deploying those forces against its own citizens would be yet another profound betrayal of the Iranian people.”
The commander of the Iranian Quds Force arrived in Iraq on Jan. 7. Some reports indicated that his arrival was for the purpose of holding meetings with Iraqi militias, while other sources indicated that his visit was to decide on the selection of an Iraqi prime minister, with former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki being the likely candidate, more than two months after the Iraqi elections.
Mehdi Reza, an Iranian opposition figure and one of the leaders of media campaigns supporting the protests, told The Media Line that there are strong confirmations from inside Iran that Iraqi militias are participating in quelling the demonstrations.
“For more than a week, Iraqi militias have been involved in suppressing the demonstrations in various parts of Iran, but many of them have been deployed to guard official or military headquarters, according to confirmations from protesters inside Iran,” he said.
“The numbers are significant, and eyewitnesses in Ahvaz who participated in the demonstrations reported that among those involved in suppressing them were individuals who spoke Arabic with an Iraqi accent,” he added.
Several daily demonstrations in support of the Iranian regime are currently taking place in Iraqi Shiite provinces. These demonstrations portray the events in Iran as Zionist-American moves to eliminate the Islamic Revolution.
Thousands of Iraqi Shiites, including members of Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militias, have participated in these demonstrations. Many carry the flags of their respective militias or wear shirts bearing their slogans.
Unlike in June 2025, when most Iraqi militias issued statements affirming their noninvolvement in the exchange of fire between Iran and Israel, these same militias have now issued statements supporting the Iranian regime and condemning the protests.
The most widely circulated statement was that of Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, secretary general of Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, who declared, “The religious and moral duty compels those striving in the path of God to stand with all their might alongside the honorable Muslim people of Iran, besieged by the forces of evil and criminality. Defending the sanctity of the Islamic Republic is, in fact, defending the sacred values of the nation.”
Najaf International Airport in Iraq has witnessed a significant and unprecedented increase in flights between Najaf and the airports of Tehran and Mashhad, specifically operated by several Iranian airlines. Some of these flights were unscheduled.
The religious and moral duty compels those striving in the path of God to stand with all their might alongside the honorable Muslim people of Iran, besieged by the forces of evil and criminality
According to airport data, the number of flights reached 13 last Monday, compared to only seven scheduled flights.
Najaf Governorate is one of the provinces with an absolute Shiite majority and is the center of religious authorities, holding great sanctity for Shiite Muslims.
The airport in Najaf is not subject to the same stringent security measures as Baghdad International Airport. In past years, the airport has seen fighters travel through it on the way to Syria and Lebanon. It also received thousands of foreign fighters who entered Iraq during the war against ISIS to fight alongside Iraqi militias at that time.
It was not possible to confirm, through a source at Najaf Airport, why flights to Iranian destinations—particularly Tehran and Mashhad—have increased.
Ibrahim al-Khayyat, a former Iraqi army general, told The Media Line that the Shiite militias in Iraq know that the end of Iran means their end, and that they would be gone forever, with no way back.
“This time, things seem to have spiraled out of control in Iran. The protests are raging and may be even worse than before, and it seems that US President Donald Trump is determined to change the regime in Iran, even by force,” he said.
“The participation of Iraqi militias in suppressing the Iranian protests is almost certain. They are being called upon despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of fighters in the Basij and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and even in the police and other forces. This is the participation of the most repressive militias,” he added.
“Perhaps Iranian soldiers are less powerful and brutal, but militia members have no familial or human ties. They are mercenaries paid for their services, and therefore, the participation of mercenaries in suppressing protests is common practice in repressive regimes,” he noted.
According to Al-Khayyat, these militias might be made to take part in search-and-arrest campaigns or even be deployed on the front lines of the demonstrations. He added that more fighters were ready to fight in Iran because they feared what would happen to them if Iran’s Shiite ruling regime were to fall.