Aras Habib

Aras Habib (Arabic: آراس حبيب; Kurdish: آراس حبيب; born 6 August 1967) is an Iraqi-Feyli Kurdish businessman, politician, colonel and was serving as the supreme commander of the Free Iraqi Forces until it dissolved in 2003. He also served as the long-term director of intelligence for Ahmed Chalabi and was later appointed as the General-Secretary of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) after the death of Ahmad Chalabi in 2015 and been leading the party since then. Aras Habib is also the founder and owner of Al-Bilad Islamic Bank of Iraq.

Aras Habib was born on August 6, 1967, in Baghdad into a wealthy Feyli Kurdish family. His father, Habib Muhammad Karim Feyli, was a former judge and the General-Secretary of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). His family were active members of the KDP and had close ties to the Barzani family.

Following the Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement of 1970, Mullah Mustafa Barzani nominated Habib Muhammad Karim Feyli for the position of Vice President of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. However, Saddam rejected the nomination, claiming that Habib was too friendly with the Shah of Iran and west, and instead endorsed Taha Yassin Ramadan, an ethnic Kurd from Mosul. This decision angered Mustafa Barzani, who disputed Saddam’s choice and insisted that Habib should become Iraq’s vice president. This disagreement was one of the conflicts that later contributed to the outbreak of the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War. After the conflict, Aras and his family, together with the Barzanis, went into exile in Iran under the Shah’s protection following their defeat.

Aras Habib, a once influential figure within the Iraqi opposition movement, remains one of the most controversial and widely criticized political personalities in Iraq today. As a key member of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) — the opposition group that operated in exile during Saddam Hussein’s rule — Aras has long been accused of deceit, manipulation, and betrayal by both his political peers and the broader Iraqi public. His complex relationship with Ahmed Chalabi, the late leader of the INC, continues to cast a long shadow over his reputation.

During the 1990s, Aras served as the director of intelligence for the INC, a position that placed him at the heart of the organization’s dealings with foreign governments, most notably the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States. According to numerous accounts, Aras maintained close and often secretive ties with American intelligence officials — at times acting independently and without informing Chalabi about the full extent of his communications or activities. This behavior, many within the INC later claimed, amounted to a serious breach of trust. Critics accused him of betraying Chalabi’s confidence and undermining the INC’s internal cohesion at a crucial moment in its struggle against Saddam’s regime. The rift between Aras and Chalabi became particularly pronounced over their differing visions for Iraq’s liberation. Chalabi strongly favored an internal solution, believing that Saddam Hussein’s regime could be toppled through a military coup led by Iraqis themselves. He consistently warned that a foreign military invasion, particularly one led by the United States, would be perceived by the Iraqi people as an act of occupation rather than liberation. Chalabi argued that such an intervention would destroy the legitimacy of the opposition and leave Iraq’s sovereignty compromised. “A coup from within would preserve Iraq’s dignity,” he reportedly told close associates, insisting that foreign troops on Iraqi soil would turn the opposition into “traitors in the eyes of the people.” Aras, however, rejected this view entirely. He maintained that a domestic uprising or coup would never succeed against Saddam’s entrenched network of security forces and tribal loyalists. According to him, only direct American military intervention could bring about the end of Saddam’s regime. Behind the scenes, Aras reportedly lobbied aggressively in Washington, pushing U.S. officials to take decisive military action. He dismissed Chalabi’s plan as naïve, famously claiming that without American intervention, “Saddam and his family would rule Iraq for 7,000 years.” In the end, Chalabi’s position shifted — under pressure from figures within his inner circle, many of whom were influenced by Aras and his pro-intervention stance. When the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq finally came in 2003, Aras publicly celebrated it as a historic victory for freedom. Yet in the years that followed, as Iraq descended into chaos, sectarian violence, and foreign occupation, public opinion turned sharply against figures like him.

Aras Habib, once a prominent figure within the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and a close ally of the United States, has had a controversial and shifting political trajectory over the past decades. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Habib maintained strong ties with U.S. officials, leveraging his position within the INC and his intelligence background to cooperate with American interests in Iraq. However, over time, disputes emerged between Habib and his former allies in Washington, leading to a noticeable realignment toward Iranian influence.

One of the turning points in this relationship came when Ahmed Chalabi’s connections to the Pentagon, particularly through Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, faced scrutiny. Reports surfaced that some aides within the INC had allegedly supplied sensitive U.S. security information in Baghdad to Iran, prompting the Pentagon to cut off funding to Chalabi and his associates. Aras Habib, as a key figure in Chalabi’s inner circle, was implicated in these controversies, straining his ties with the Americans further. In 2016, the Pentagon publicly accused Habib of financing Hezbollah in Lebanon with $300 million, branding him as an agent of Iran. This marked a dramatic reversal from his earlier role as a U.S. collaborator, casting him as a controversial figure involved in regional destabilization.

Following the public break between the Pentagon and Chalabi, a warrant for Aras Habib’s arrest was reportedly issued. However, the warrant has never been executed, and he remains at large, continuing to be a subject of suspicion and intrigue in both Iraqi and international political circles. Today Habib enjoys very close ties with Iran, Russia, UAE, KRG and Shia Arab parties in Iraq and Lebanon. He used to be an close ally of USA before he got sanctioned and accused by the pentagon for having close relationship with the Lebanese Hezbollah.

Aras Habib and his party allegedly control a large number of state and commercial enterprises in Iraq, with a gross value estimated at several billion dollars. He has been accused of building a secret militia composed of tens of thousands of well-trained and well-armed Feylis, reportedly backed by the IRGC and Iraqi state funds. Habib was known to be close friends with Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both of whom were killed in an American airstrike in 2020. Following the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Habib referred to him as a saint.

He has consistently supported Iran against Israel, describing Iran as the patron of the Shias. Habib has repeatedly endorsed the idea of a Shia imperial state stretching from Afghanistan to Lebanon. At the same time, he advocates for pragmatic relations with the United States and the West, balancing his ties with Iran and Western powers.

Habib is a staunch critic of Hamas and the Palestinian cause, going so far as to call Palestinians “scums, thugs, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood gang,” urging Shia groups to avoid involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because, in his view, it does not concern the Shias and would only weaken the so-called “axis of resistance.”

In the lead-up to the 2025 Iraqi elections, Habib has increasingly employed sectarian rhetoric against Sunnis. He has publicly claimed that Iraq is exclusively for Shias and insisted that the government must only be ruled by Shias. He has accused Sunnis of being responsible for the destruction of Iraq over the past 80 years, particularly during periods when they held power and endorsed figures like Nouri al-Maliki.

In a controversial interview, when asked what he would do if the Shias lost the November 2025 elections, Habib responded that he would take the government by force. Many observers interpreted this as a declaration that he might use his military forces and ally with other Shia militias to conduct a coup against a democratically elected government. His statements sparked widespread outrage among Iraqis. Habib made it clear that he did not care what the cost would be, asserting that he would not allow Sunnis to rule Iraq.

Today, Aras is viewed by many Iraqis as a symbol of misplaced loyalty and foreign dependency. He has been blamed by many Iraqis — especially within the Sunni community — for being one of the architects behind Iraq’s destruction and years of misery. Critics accuse him of playing a central role in bringing corrupt and sectarian politicians such as Nouri al-Maliki and Ibrahim al-Jaafari into power, paving the way for the rise of Shi’a militias that later dominated Iraq’s political and security landscape. According to his detractors, Aras did this with the cooperation of both American and Iranian intelligence agencies, facilitating a balance of power that ultimately benefited foreign interests while deepening Iraq’s internal divisions. Many Iraqis see his legacy as one of betrayal — a man who, in their view, helped dismantle the fabric of the Iraqi state and empowered forces that prioritized sectarian loyalty over national unity.

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