We are your fighters: Pro-Khamenei mobilization emerges in southern Iraq

Shafaq News/ A group of Shiite seminary students in Basra announced on Thursday that they are prepared to carry out suicide operations in support of Iran.

The group declared loyalty to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and affirmed their adherence to the religious authority in Najaf [Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani].

The announcement, read aloud during a press conference, marks the first public mobilization of its kind in Iraq since the outbreak of direct hostilities between Israel and Iran.

“We do not condemn, we do not issue statements—we point our weapons at the chests of traitors,” the statement read. “To Sayyed Khamenei, we say: we are your fighters.”

The group called on the Iraqi government to move beyond “cold statements” and enact sovereign action by immediately closing Iraqi airspace to any aircraft used for military operations against Iran, calling such a move “the least level of response.”

They further demanded the expulsion of foreign forces, singling out US troops as “the most dangerous occupiers,” and described the American embassy in Baghdad as “a poisoned dagger in Iraq’s sovereignty.”

Speaking to Shafaq News, cleric Sheikh Ali al-Maliki emphasized, “The time calls for action, not compromise. We are openly declaring ourselves martyrdom projects in the hands of the Guardian Jurist, Ayatollah Khamenei, and we are fully prepared to defend Iran and confront the agents of the Zionist [Israel] project.”

Meanwhile, in Babil province, residents of Al-Midhatiya staged a demonstration, raising images of both the Najaf clerical establishment and Khamenei, alongside Iranian and Iraqi flags. Protesters denounced Israeli strikes on Iran and pledged full solidarity with Tehran.

The escalation comes days after Abu Ala al-Walai, secretary-general of the Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada armed group, warned that dozens of Iraqi "martyrs-in-waiting" are prepared to attack US interests if full-scale war erupts between Iran and Israel.

Tensions have soared since June 13, when Israel launched a surprise wave of missile strikes deep inside Iranian territory. Iran responded that same night with massive retaliatory barrages.

The exchanges have resulted in dozens of casualties and widespread infrastructure damage on both sides, triggering international alarm over the potential for a broader war that could destabilize the entire region.