BAGHDAD: THE FINAL DANCE OF THE VELAYAT-E FAQIH REGIME – MALIKI AS A FRONT TO SALVAGE IRANIAN RUIN

In a move that reveals the depth of the existential crisis facing the mullahs' regime in Tehran, the Coordination Framework in Baghdad has officially announced the nomination of Nouri al-Maliki for the Iraqi premiership. This decision comes after Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani was forced to step down under immense pressure. This event is not merely a change of political faces within the Green Zone; it is a declaration of a state of maximum emergency issued by Khamenei from Tehran. It represents a desperate attempt to turn back the clock following the geopolitical earthquakes that have rocked the region, specifically the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the repercussions of the mid-2025 war that broke the back of Iran's military proxies.

THE RETURN OF THE BURNT CARD: WHY NOW?

The recycling of Nouri al-Maliki in January 2026, despite previous popular and clerical vetoes against him, confirms the long-standing assessment of the Iranian Resistance: the Iranian regime no longer possesses the luxury of maneuvering or diplomatic posturing. Tehran has lost its strategic depth in Damascus and Beirut, leaving Iraq as the sole lifeline for a regime that is dying both economically and regarding its security.

Information from behind the scenes of the Coordination Framework meetings indicates that the remaining generals of the Quds Force imposed Maliki as a purely security-based choice rather than a political one. Tehran no longer trusts any figure who attempts to strike a balance in foreign relations; it requires absolute suppression in Baghdad to ensure the flow of hard currency to save the collapsing Rial. Furthermore, the goal is to transform Iraq into a massive prison to prevent any communication between the protesters in Iranian cities and their social depth in Iraq. Maliki, with his known history of absolute loyalty to the Velayat-e Faqih regime, represents Tehran's final bulwark to prevent the collapse of the remaining dominoes.

THE POPULAR MOBILIZATION FORCES: BORDER GUARDS FOR TEHRAN, NOT IRAQ

In parallel with the political coup in Baghdad, field reports over the past week have monitored unprecedented movements of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)—specifically the 10th and 25th Brigades—toward the border strip with Syria. Official propaganda speaks of preventing terrorist infiltration following the chaos that succeeded the fall of the Syrian regime, but the strategic reality is entirely different.

Sources confirm that these mobilizations are being carried out under direct orders from Tehran for two fundamental reasons:

First: To impose a security cordon that prevents IRGC elements and their families fleeing Syria from entering Iraq without rigorous screening, fearing the infiltration of hostile intelligence assets.

Second: More importantly, to use these forces as a cross-border suppression unit. There is a genuine fear within the Velayat-e Faqih regime that western Iraq and eastern Syria could become a launching pad for supporting Resistance Units inside Iran, or that the contagion of liberation from hegemony that toppled Assad might spread to the Iraqi provinces that are already simmering with discontent. Today, the PMF does not function as an Iraqi force, but rather as an emergency division of the IRGC, with the sole mission of protecting the regime's back in Tehran.

STRATEGIC CONTRACTION AND THE END OF MANEUVERING

A reading of the Iraqi scene in the final week of January 2026 validates the vision of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI): the Velayat-e Faqih regime is undergoing a phase of fatal contraction. When the regime is forced to use exhausted and popularly rejected cards like Maliki and move its militias so overtly on the borders, it is evidence of a total lack of options.

Tehran can no longer export its crises abroad as it has done for decades; the external environment (Syria and Lebanon) has rejected it, and the Iranian interior is ablaze with an unyielding uprising. Consequently, Iraq has shifted from a sphere of influence to a final defensive trench. The attempt to install Maliki is a desperate bid to turn Iraq into a human and economic shield to protect Khamenei from inevitable collapse.

CONCLUSION

The current battle in Baghdad is not a local affair; it is the final chapter of Tehran's struggle for survival. The Iranian regime's insistence on confrontation through its old tools in Iraq will accelerate the inevitable clash with the Iraqi people, who refuse to be fuel for the Velayat-e Faqih regime's fire. The coming days are pregnant with surprises, and Maliki's return may be the spark that ignites the entire Iraqi landscape, allowing the fires of Iraqi anger to join the flames of the revolution burning in the streets of Tehran, signaling the end of an era of darkness in the region.