His official biography claims he moved to Iran shortly after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, but it is believed he was actually a soldier in the Iraqi army in 1984 and fought in the Iran–Iraq War.
He fought against Iraq for the remainder of the war, later carrying out intelligence work against the government of Saddam Hussein.
A secret cable from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, dated January 19, 2007 and published by WikiLeaks, stated that U.S. forces "had good information based on multiple sources," that al-Araji was "involved in smuggling and distribution" of explosives that were being used to target U.S. forces and that he was "also suspected in involvement in an assassination cell."
[3] Between 2014 and 2015, he repeatedly claimed the United States was supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, saying, "The U.S. has supported ISIS in Syria and funded the group in Iraq," adding that, "The duality of America is very clear in terms of fighting ISIS, The U.S. government supports the Kurdistan region in battling ISIS, but refuses to stand with the Iraqi security forces or the tribesmen in battling the group.
[6] Following the 2018 Iraqi parliamentary election, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi succeeded al-Araji as head of the ministry on an interim basis.