In a scenario reminiscent of events in 2020, Iraqi media outlets close to raqi factions and parties loyal to Tehran have been trying in the past few days to accuse the Iraqi National Intelligence Service of participating in the assassination of the Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

This time, these media outlets close to Tehran exploited a TV interview by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Al-Arabiya channel last week, in which he touched on the US operation near Baghdad airport in early 2020 that killed Soleimani and Muhandis. Pompeo had asserted in the interview that the operation was purely American with no Iraqi involvement. But these media outlets, hostile to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, labeled his statements as new "evidence" that Iraqi parties were involved in the operation.

Tehran’s supporters in Iraq did not stop at media accusations of the Iraqi intelligence service, but went beyond that to threaten senior officers of the agency by name and post their photos with personal information, which caused a wave of anger in the political and popular quarters.

Also, the headquarters of the intelligence service in Baghdad was hit with an explosive device. All this seems to fall within the scope of a systematic campaign of escalation launched by the Shiite militias against the intelligence service, targeting Kadhimi.