Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the U.S. Trump administration, 10 senior commanders and Iraqi officials told Reuters.

The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by U.S. officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January, according to the sources who include six local commanders of four major militias.

The officials told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias operating on its soil, America could target the groups with airstrikes, the people added.

Izzat al-Shahbndar, a senior Shi’ite Muslim politician close to Iraq’s governing alliance, told Reuters that discussions between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and several militia leaders were “very advanced”, and the groups were inclined to comply with U.S. calls for disarmament.

“The factions are not acting stubbornly or insisting on continuing in their current form,” he said, adding that the groups were “fully aware” they could be targeted by the U.S.

The six militia commanders interviewed in Baghdad and a southern province, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, are from the Kataib Hezbollah, Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa groups.

“Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario,” said a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful Shi’ite militia, who spoke from behind a black face mask and sunglasses.

The commanders said their main ally and patron, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) military force, had given them its blessing to take whatever decisions they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the United States and Israel.

The militias are part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of about 10 hardline Shi’ite armed factions that collectively command about 50,000 fighters and arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons, according to two security officials who monitor militias’ activities.

The Resistance group, a key pillar of Iran’s network of regional proxy forces, have claimed responsibility for dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gaza war erupted about 18 months ago.

Iran is pushing back against U.S. demands that it directly negotiate over its nuclear programme or be bombed, warning neighbours that host U.S. bases that they could be in the firing line if involved, a senior Iranian official said.

Although Iran has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for direct talks, it wants to continue indirect negotiations through Oman, a longtime channel for messages between the rival states, said the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“Indirect talks offer a chance to evaluate Washington’s seriousness about a political solution with Iran,” said the official.

Although that path could be “rocky”, such talks could begin soon if U.S. messaging supported it, the official said.

Iran has issued notices to Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and Bahrain that any support for a U.S. attack on Iran, including the use of their air space or territory by U.S. military during an attack, would be considered an act of hostility, the official said.

Such an act “will have severe consequences for them”, the official said, adding that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had placed Iran’s armed forces on high alert.

Warnings by Trump of military action against Iran have jangled already tense nerves across the region after open warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, military strikes on Yemen, a change of leadership in Syria and Israeli-Iranian exchanges of fire.

Worries of a wider regional conflagration have unsettled states around the Gulf, a body of water bordered on one side by Iran and on the other by U.S.-allied Arab monarchies that carries a significant proportion of global oil supplies.

Spokespeople for the governments of Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of a warning but that such messages could be conveyed by other channels.

On Wednesday, Iranian state media reported that Kuwait had reassured Iran that it would not accept any aggressive action being directed at other countries from its soil.

Iran’s ally Russia said on Thursday that U.S. threats of military strikes against the Islamic Republic were unacceptable and on Friday called for restraint.

Iran is trying to gain more support from Russia, but is sceptical about Moscow’s commitment to its ally, said a second Iranian official. This “depends on the dynamics” of the relationship between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the official said.

Trump has said he would prefer a deal over Iran’s nuclear programme to a military confrontation and he said on March 7 he had written to Khamenei to suggest talks.

The first Iranian official said a first round of indirect talks could involve Omani mediators shuttling between the Iranian and U.S. delegations. Khamenei has authorised Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi or his deputy, Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, to attend any talks in Muscat.

Oman’s government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, the official believed there was a window of around two months to agree a deal, citing worries that Iran’s long-time foe Israel might launch its own attack if talks took longer, and that it could trigger a so-called “snap back” of all international sanctions on Iran to prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog has warned.

Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs.

While Iran has said it will consider talks with the U.S. if the aim was to address concerns over its programme, it has rejected holding any direct negotiations when the U.S. is making threats and has said its missile programme would be off limits.

A senior Iranian military commander, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Amirali Hajizadeh, had implied on Monday that U.S. bases in the region could be targeted in any conflict.

In 2020, Iran targeted U.S. bases in Iraq after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force, in a U.S. missile strike in Baghdad.

Rains fell on parts of earthquake-hit Myanmar over the weekend, which aid agencies said could complicate relief efforts and raise the risk of disease as the United Nations aid chief said more tents were needed to shelter those left homeless.

The death toll from the powerful quake that hit on March 28 rose to 3,471, state media reported, with 4,671 people injured and another 214 still missing.

Aid agencies have warned the combination of the unseasonable rains and extreme heat could cause outbreaks of disease, including cholera, among quake survivors who are camping in the open, Reuters reported.

“Families sleeping outside the ruins of their homes while bodies of loved ones are pulled from rubble. Real fear of more quakes,” visiting U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a post on X.

“We need to get tents and hope to survivors as they rebuild their shattered lives,” he said, adding strong, coordinated action was the key to saving as many lives as possible.

Myanmar’s neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations, are among those that dispatched relief supplies and rescuers over the past week to aid the recovery effort in quake-hit areas that are home to about 28 million people.

The United States, which was until recently the world’s top humanitarian donor, has pledged at least $9 million to Myanmar to support earthquake-affected communities but current and former U.S. officials say the dismantling of its foreign aid programme has affected its response.

Three U.S. Agency for International Development workers who had travelled to Myanmar after the quake were told they were being let go, Marcia Wong, a former senior USAID official, told Reuters.

“This team is working incredibly hard, focused on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination – how can that not be demoralising?” Wong said.

In neighbouring Thailand, authorities said that the country’s death toll from the quake had risen to 24. Of those, 17 died at the site of a skyscraper in the capital, Bangkok, that collapsed while under construction. A further 77 were still missing there.

Myanmar’s military has struggled to run the country since overthrowing the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, leaving the economy and basic services, including healthcare, in tatters, a situation exacerbated by the quake.

The civil war that followed has displaced more than 3 million people, with widespread food insecurity and more than a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. says.

While a ceasefire was declared on Wednesday, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday the junta was restricting aid in areas that did not back its rule. It also said it was investigating reported attacks by the junta against opponents, including after the ceasefire.