Iraq's Harakat al-Nujaba has pledged loyalty to Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, backing his call for unity among the region's Iran-aligned armed groups.

The Iran-backed faction, one of Iraq's most prominent armed groups, said on Tuesday it would answer Khamenei's call for "unity of the fronts", praising coordination among resistance groups and their steadfastness. "We pledge to remain steadfast alongside him on the path of the martyred leader, the path of resistance, and to maintain full readiness for all developments in the coming phase," the movement said in a statement.

A new leader's test

Khamenei, who succeeded his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader in March, last week ordered Iran's armed forces commanders to respond immediately to any threat, without geographical limits. Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said commanders of the allied resistance fronts had declared their "absolute loyalty" to the new leader.

Nujaba, led by Akram al-Kaabi and formed in 2013, is part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces and was designated a terrorist organisation by the United States in 2019. Along with Kataib Hezbollah, it has refused to accept Baghdad's plan to bring all weapons under state control by June 2027, and last week it rejected proposed changes to the law governing the mobilisation forces.

What it means for Baghdad

The pledge underlines the challenge facing Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's government as it presses the most Iran-aligned factions to disarm. With Nujaba publicly aligning itself with Tehran's new leader, Baghdad's disarmament timetable looks harder to enforce.