Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, in an interview with The New York Times, pledged to disarm his country’s Iran-backed militias by June 2027, The New York Times reports. 

al-Zaidi said his goal is for these militias to cease to exist as independent entities. “They will join the Popular Mobilization Forces as individuals and integrate into them,” he said. After the deadline, he said, any groups operating under militia names “will be deemed outlaws.”

According to him, there would first be a 90-day period during which the militias would not launch any attacks and be assured that they would not be attacked by US forces. After that, the militias would begin handing over their weapons, with disarmament ending by June 30, 2027, he said, though the militias are still pushing to have until the end of 2027 to disarm.