As a young man, Hadi al-Ameri participated in the Iran-Iraq war on the iranian side against his homeland Iraq. In Iran he participated in the founding of the
Badr Brigade, an armed wing of the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a pro-Iranian political party which fought the Republic of Iraq during the
Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. Amiri has denied claims that he has overseen flights passing through Iraqi airspace from Iran to Syria containing shipments of weapons to help the Syrian Government in the
Syrian Civil War. As a commander in
Popular Mobilization Forces, he has been active in the operations against ISIL. He has been described as "perhaps the most powerful and pro-Iranian" leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces and often met
Brett H. McGurk, President Donald J. Trump's US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. He is fluent in
Persian. In 2011, he accompanied the Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki on a visit to the White House during
Barack Obama's presidency, in his capacity as Secretary of Transportation and also as a foe of (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein. On 31 December 2019, along with
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,
Qais Khazali, and
Falih Al-Fayyadh, US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo claimed him to be a leader of the
attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad. an Iraqi coalition of militias which fought against the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group. Following the
assassination of Ali Khamenei during the
2026 Iran war, Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri pledged allegiance to
the new supreme leader of Iran,
Mojtaba Khamenei. ==2021 Iraqi elections==