Iran has proxies in Gaza with Hamas, Lebanon with Hezbollah, and Yemen with the Houthis. They also have a growing, dangerous threat from a new proxy in Iraq. According to The Wall Street Journal, the militias are responsible for drone attacks on the Kuwaiti consulate in Basra. They also attacked the Emirati consulate in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
“Since the start of the conflict, the Kurdistan region has been consistently attacked externally by Iran and internally by the Iranian-backed militias,” Treefa Aziz, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Washington representative, told me in an interview earlier this month. Aziz said that the Kurdistan region has absorbed more than 700 attacks from drones, missiles, mortars, and rockets, resulting in the deaths of 16 people and over 90 serious injuries.
“The militias are responsible for a lot of havoc, and the government in Baghdad is not doing enough to rein them in.” The Iraqi militias, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have not observed the ceasefire that Trump extended on Tuesday. “They have continued to launch drone, rocket, and missile attacks,” one U.S. defense official working on the Iran war said.
As for Iran, they have their sharpshooters and pirates all along the shoreline. So, they think they are in great shape in this war. The head negotiator, Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf, was forced to resign ahead of the negotiations in Pakistan. The negotiations appear to be off anyway.
The negotiations in Pakistan were in Pakistan, a CCP client state, so I don’t have a lot of hope for them. We will have to see who shows up for the negotiations. Only Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are going to Pakistan. They shouldn’t bother. According to IRGC-affiliated Tasnim, there are currently no plans to negotiate with the United States. Araghchi is traveling to Pakistan to discuss regional issues and Iran’s perspective on ending the war, not to meet with American officials.
This one is a notorious troublemaker and hardliner:
Senior Iranian official Mohsen Rezaee:
“The sound of America’s broken power will be heard from the Persian Gulf to the Oman Sea.” pic.twitter.com/Ysp3upp46s
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 24, 2026
Tehran is cooking up an attack. IDF Arabic spokesperson: We are monitoring the Iranian-backed plan being advanced with Tehran’s guidance and the close involvement of pro-Iran militias in Iraq. We will act when necessary.
At the same time, Treasury has frozen $344 million in assets held in Gulf banks. The Gulf nations are angry about what Iran did to them and opened the books.
Secretary Hegseth earlier today.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth calls out U.S.’ allies:
“The time for free riding is over.”
“America and the free world deserve allies who are capable, who are loyal, and who understand that being an ally is not a one way street.”
“We barely use the Strait of Hormuz as a… pic.twitter.com/LkMJB6YGcy
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 24, 2026