Abu Alaa al-Walae, leader of Iraq’s Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades—an Iran-backed faction within the Popular Mobilization Forces—issued a stark warning:

“If war breaks out, we will humiliate America. There will be hundreds of dead Americans on the battlefield, and once again, America’s pride will be shattered, just as it was the first time it withdrew from Iraq in defeat.

Neither the U.S. nor its agents will remain in the Middle East. The regimes that sought protection under American occupation will collapse.

Then, victory will belong to God and His faithful servants.”