Baghdad — The Iraqi parliament voted on Thursday to approve a partial Cabinet lineup for the government of Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi, bringing Iraq a step closer to a full administration but leaving key security posts unresolved amid pushback from Iran-aligned factions.
Lawmakers confirmed 14 of 23 ministerial nominees during the session in Baghdad. Among those approved, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein — a Kurd — retained his post, signaling continuity in Iraq’s delicate diplomatic balancing between Washington and Tehran. However, the assembly rejected three candidates: the nominees for interior, higher education, and planning. Votes on the remaining positions, including the critical defense, labor, housing, reconstruction, and education ministries, were postponed to an unspecified later date.
The delay, according to two officials from the Coordination Framework — the coalition of Shiite parties that dominates parliament and is allied with Iran — was not a routine parliamentary snag. The officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press, said that Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, had explicitly instructed several Shiite political and armed faction leaders not to proceed with any steps related to disarming militias at this stage. Qaani reportedly advised that decisions on disarming the groups should wait until the trajectory of ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations becomes clearer. The same officials said Qaani also urged postponing votes on ministries tied to political blocs that maintain affiliated armed factions, effectively freezing progress on filling some of the most sensitive posts in the new government.
The power-sharing arrangement that underpins al-Zaidi’s cabinet allocates 12 ministries to the Coordination Framework, six to Sunni parties, four to Kurdish parties, and one to a representative of religious minorities. Al-Zaidi himself is a businessman with no prior political background who emerged as a compromise candidate after weeks of internal debate within the Framework’s member parties. He received quiet endorsements from both U.S. and Iranian officials, reflecting the tightrope Iraq has long walked between the two rivals.
The government program approved by parliament alongside the partial Cabinet places heavy emphasis on restoring public services, stabilizing the electricity grid, combating corruption, and reforming public administration. Significantly, it also includes a clause committing to restrict weapons to the state — a goal that would require dismantling or integrating the array of Iran-backed militias that operate across Iraq. During the recent U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, those militias launched repeated rocket and drone attacks on American military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq, and Washington has since pressed Baghdad to bring the armed groups under control.
The immediate trigger for the vote delays highlights the tension. The two Coordination Framework officials’ account of Qaani’s direct intervention suggests that Tehran is not prepared to loosen its grip on Iraq’s security landscape while its own strategic position remains unsettled by the war’s aftermath and nascent diplomacy with the United States.
International reactions underscored the dual pressures on al-Zaidi’s government. U.S. envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack, in a post on X, congratulated the prime minister-designate, writing, “We are encouraged by your fresh leadership and look forward to collaborating on a bold new agenda aligned with our shared interests.” Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted his own congratulatory message, applauding the reappointment of Fuad Hussein and declaring that “expanding friendly and brotherly relations between Tehran and Baghdad remains, at all times, a top priority of our foreign policy.”
Iraq’s political system is prone to prolonged deadlock, and the country now faces the heavy economic and security consequences of the war that spilled over from Iran. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted oil exports on which Iraq’s budget overwhelmingly depends, while the presence of well-armed militias continues to test the state’s authority. With the new cabinet still incomplete and the disarmament provision essentially on hold, al-Zaidi’s government begins its term under the shadow of unresolved factional power and the competing interests of two foreign patrons.