Shafaq News-Baghdad

Iran-alignedIraqi armed factions and the family of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis rejected on Wednesday remarks by US PresidentDonald Trump disparaging him along with Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Soleimani, whocommanded the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),and al-Muhandis were killed together in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January2020.

The reactionsfollowed a July 14 Oval Office meeting between Trump and Iraqi Prime MinisterAli al-Zaidi, a businessman installed this year after months of post-electiondeadlock. During the meeting, Trump described Soleimani as "brilliant, butevil" and asked whether killing him and “another Iraqi man [al-Muhandis]had benefited Iraq. Al-Zaidi declined to engage on the 2020 strike, saying hehad not been in politics at the time, and added, "Let's talk about thefuture."

The family ofal-Muhandis said Trump's decision to name Soleimani and al-Muhandis reflectedfear on his part, and it addressed al-Zaidi directly as an official new topolitics, saying a leader who distances himself from his nation's past is unfitto lead its future.

The familyfurther claimed that al-Zaidi's Washington visit was intended to dismantle thePMF and to place Iraq's oil wealth under US control, framing both as acontinuation of the campaign that began with the killing of al-Muhandis. Itrejected calls to disarm armed factions under the banner of confining weaponsto the state, describing that framing as an American and Israeli agenda.

Akram al-Kaabi,secretary-general of Harakat al-Nujaba (the al-Nujaba Movement), an Iran-backedIraqi armed faction, condemned Trump, using highly derogatory language againstthe president and his administration. He said Soleimani and other figures ofthe resistance were more honorable than the US president's "rottenhead," describing Trump as a "fool who kills children" and hisadministration as "criminal and evil."

Al-Kaabi saidthose “corrupt thieves” would not profit from Iraq's oil and wealth, whetherthrough direct seizure or “suspicious investment cover,” and asserted that theIslamic Resistance would endure and drive foreign forces out.

Sabreen News,an anonymous Telegram channel associated with the Iran-aligned Resistance Axis,mocked Trump in a series of posts as an imbecile and asserted the armedresistance would outlast him.

: Al-Zaidi's Washington visit links US oil investment to Iraq's September disarmament deadline