In an interview with The New York Times published on Monday, Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, again promised to disarm Iran-backed militias, on the day he travelled to New York for the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, where he is expected to meet Donald Trump on the sidelines, according to government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi. The September 30 deadline is the same for the end of the US-led coalition mission in the country and for the handover of weapons held outside state control, a commitment al-Zaidi made to Trump in July. The government itself sends mixed signals: national security adviser Qasim al-Araji said in August that the date marks the coalition’s departure, not the deadline for handing over weapons, and the committee in charge of disarmament has no fixed deadline, according to The National. The commander-in-chief’s spokesperson, Sabah al-Numan, told state news agency Iraqi News Agency that September 30 is “a strategic turning point” and that from then on “any justification” for armed action outside state authority “disappears”. Among the factions the picture is equally split: Saraya al-Salam, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali have announced compliance and handed over part of their weapons, while Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada reject the deadline, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Iraqi outlet 964media. Iraq tried once before to concentrate weapons in state hands, after the 2011 US withdrawal, and the country slid into sectarian violence until Islamic State gained ground in 2014.