White House Issues Stern Warning to Iraq: U.S. Military Operations Are Off-Limits

As Iraq moves forward with preparations for its November 11 parliamentary elections, the White House has issued a warning to Baghdad concerning the movements of Iraqi armed groups.

According to Rokna, citing Middle East News, the White House strongly cautioned the Iraqi government against any reaction by these groups to potential U.S. military actions in the region near Iraq over the coming days.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported that only two days after Washington sent a message of support to Baghdad regarding the future of bilateral relations, Iraq apparently received what appears to be the White House’s most serious warning yet concerning its armed factions.

This warning reportedly included a direct threat that any retaliatory move by Iraqi militant groups in response to imminent U.S. operations near Iraq would bring “serious consequences.”

According to details disclosed in the report, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabit al-Abbasi revealed during a televised interview that the stern warning was personally delivered to him by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a phone call.

Al-Abbasi said the U.S. defense chief, through the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, had informed him of upcoming military operations in the region and firmly warned against any interference by Iraqi groups—but provided no further details.

He added that the 11-to-12-minute call took place in the presence of Iraq’s Chief of Staff and the Deputy Commander of Joint Operations. His American counterpart concluded the call with an explicit threat: “This is your final notification… and you know very well what the current U.S. government’s response will be.”

The Iraqi defense minister further noted that during the same conversation, he and Secretary Hegseth discussed issues related to drone cooperation, a proposed memorandum of understanding on security and intelligence cooperation between the two sides, and the contract for Bell-model helicopters set to be delivered to Iraq.

The U.S. warning comes as Iraq prepares to hold its sixth parliamentary elections since the political transformation brought about by American forces in 2003.

Meanwhile, amid deep divisions among Iraq’s political blocs and conflicting signals from Washington, growing anxiety and concern have spread among various factions—particularly within Shiite groups—about the potential repercussions of U.S. military moves in the region.