TEHRAN, Iran, June 19 (World Daily Times) — Reuters, citing eight Iraqi sources, reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps set up secret cells inside Iraq to carry out drone attacks on Gulf countries that host American forces. The allegation is important because it suggests a way for Iran to act through smaller, harder-to-track teams rather than relying only on the larger militia networks long linked to regional violence.
The sources told Reuters the cells were created to bypass established militias and avoid detection. Three of the sources described three or four cells, each with about 10 elite Iraqi Shi’ite fighters. Some members were said to come from Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Shi’ite factions, but the reported new units operated outside that group’s command structure and answered directly to the IRGC.
Three Iraqi security sources said the cells launched at least seven drone attacks from desert areas near Basra and Samawa in southern Iraq between April 20 and May 17. The reported targets were sites in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Those sources said their assessment was based on human intelligence, intercepted communications and evidence gathered from launch sites.
The reported pattern also points to a political purpose. Iraqi officials cited by Reuters said the IRGC turned to the new cells to preserve plausible deniability, steer blame away from major Iran-backed groups and reduce U.S. pressure on Baghdad to disarm them. In that reading, the case is not only about cross-border attacks, but about how armed groups can operate from Iraqi territory while trying to hide their chain of command.
The Reuters account did not identify any public arrests, charges or court case tied to the allegations.
