Several Iraqi provinces declared Tuesday an official holiday to mark the third anniversary of the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The office of the prime minister denied, however, that it had sanctioned such a holiday.
Soleimani and al-Muhandis were killed in a US drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport in January 2020.
A commemoration of the killing will be held near Baghdad airport. The facility said that flights will continue to operate.
Pro-Iran factions that are hostile to the US have called for heavy turnout at the event.
Meanwhile, security forces have intensified their measures around several American positions and interests in anticipation of possible unrest.
The commemoration is taking place in an Iraq that is ruled by a government that is dominated by the pro-Iran Coordination Framework.
The Framework, formed of Shiite parties, is united in supporting Soleimani and al-Muhandis but divided over how to handle Iraq’s ties with the US.
Several Framework members have criticized the talks held between American Ambassador to Baghdad Alina Romanowski and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a member of the Framework himself.
The criticism has not, however, reached the scathing degree levelled against his predecessor Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who had paid two visits to the US during his tenure. He had also drafted a comprehensive agreement with the US about its future presence in Iraq.
Several Shiite parties approved the deal, which falls in line with the 2009 strategic framework agreement between Baghdad and Washington.
This has not, however, prevented them from accusing Kadhimi and several members of his intelligence team of providing logistic support to the Americans in carrying out the strike that took out Soleimani.
At the time of the killing, Kadhimi was part of the intelligence agency.
Iran had sent a team of investigators to Iraq to probe the killing but it did not find any evidence to back the accusations against the former PM.
