Iraq’s pro-Iranian militias threatened to break Iran’s blockade at all cost.

:: Following the United States’ sanctions going into effect against the Islamic Republic on Tuesday, Iraq’s pro-Iranian militias threatened to break Iran’s blockade at all cost.

In a statement, Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iraqi Shiite militia, said that work is in progress to break the blockade.

The militia statement criticized Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi’s stance, describing it as disappointing and a failure compared to what Iran has given to Iraq, according to the statement.

The statement added that without Iran, al-Abadi would not have been in power, pointing out that the duty of the Iraqi government was to stand by Iran in order to break the US economic blockade.

In a press conference on Tuesday evening, Iraqi Haydar al-Abadi said that Iraq is committed to the US sanctions against Iran, pointing to the Iraqi interests.

In the same context of the positions of other Iraqi pro-Iranian militias, Hassan Salem, the head of the parliamentary bloc Sadikun, representing the political front of the Shiite militia As’aib Ahl al-haq, said in a statement that it was time for the Iraqi government to return the favors to Iran, in reference to Iran’s financial and military support for its militias.

For his part, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received on Wednesday, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Irj Muasjidi. During the meeting, they discussed the latest political and security developments in the region.

Maliki called on the Iraqi government not to be part of the US policy to impose economic sanctions on Iran.

For its part, Doa’at al-Islam Shiite militia said in a statement on Wednesday that the actions of imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran by the United States and its president Donald Trump was a violation of all human values and international norms.

The statement called on the Muslim world to reject the sanctions and to work on expanding relations between these nations in order to confront the American political and economic arrogance, according to the statement.