Iraq’s new gov’t pledges full state monopoly on weapons: Official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s new government agenda places strong emphasis on consolidating state authority over weapons and strengthening national security institutions, spokesperson for Commander-in-Chief of Iraq’s armed forces said Sunday.

“The first strategic pillar of the new government’s agenda is the strengthening of national security,” Sabah al-Numan told Rudaw, adding that there is “a complete commitment to restricting weapons to the hands of the state and implementing the rule of law as a primary step toward ending the presence of armed groups outside the legal framework.”

The push for tighter state control over weapons comes as Iraq seeks to stabilize its security environment after Iraqi pro-Iran armed groups launched hundreds of attacks against US bases, diplomatic facilities, and energy infrastructure across Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, and Gulf states during the Iran war that began on February 28.

The government program of the newly-appointed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, which was approved by parliament on Thursday, reinforces the objectives. Zaidi emphasized in parliament that his government would pursue security reform through “monopolizing weapons in the hands of the state,” while also strengthening security forces and consolidating citizens’ “confidence in democracy.”

Numan stressed that the government is seeking to eliminate multiple centers of power by ensuring all armed groups operate under state authority. “The government agenda has established a strict framework to unify security decisions and connect all capabilities to the formal state system,” he said, adding that “all armed groups will fall under the authority of the commander-in-chief and the state's unified security decisions.”

The reforms are being implemented amid ongoing efforts to regulate civilian weapons across the country.

Authorities have established 864 registration offices nationwide, with around 310,000 applications processed so far, the interior ministry announced in mid-April. The registration system operates through the “Eye of Iraq” (Ayn Al-Iraq) application and includes licensing procedures for legal ownership.

According to the ministry, 5,800,000 weapons have been archived in Iraq’s National Weapons Bank.

The federal government has set a deadline of December 31, 2026, for citizens to register their weapons.