Direct proof of use
Business Insider summarized Iraq War reporting that RPG-29 rockets were used against coalition armor after the 2003 invasion. The article identified an August 2006 attack in southern Iraq in which an RPG-29 defeated reactive armor on a British Challenger 2 near al-Amarah and wounded crew members, and it separately linked a U.S. M1 Abrams damaged in Baghdad's Sadr City fighting to an RPG-29.
A Congressional Research Service report provides separate possession and discovery context: it recorded General John Abizaid's September 2006 statement that U.S. forces had found weaponry in Iraq likely from Iran, including a dual-warhead RPG-29. That source supports the presence of the weapon in the Iraq theater, while the armor-attack reporting supports operational use.
Sources: Business Insider RPG Threat, CRS Iran Influence in Iraq
Timeline
The clearest public sequence begins in August 2006, when the Challenger 2 hit near al-Amarah became the most specific British armor incident tied to the RPG-29 in the Iraq War record. The incident was not publicly reported until 2007, but later summaries identified the weapon as an RPG-29 and described the damage to the driver's cabin.
In September 2006, CRS recorded U.S. official reporting that forces had found an RPG-29 in Iraq, in the context of U.S. allegations about Iranian material support to Shiite militias. By May 2008, reporting from Sadr City added a second major public armor case, an M1 Abrams damaged during fighting with Shiite militias.
Sources: Business Insider RPG Threat, CRS Iran Influence in Iraq
Narrative
In Iraq War service, the RPG-29 appears in the record as a close-range anti-armor weapon used by insurgent and militia forces against coalition armored vehicles. Its reported effects were concentrated against heavily protected tanks rather than as a general infantry fire-support weapon in the sources reviewed here.
The RPG-29's PG-29V tandem high-explosive anti-tank rocket was designed to defeat explosive reactive armor before the main charge attacked the protected vehicle. Rosoboronexport lists the PG-29V tandem rocket and TBG-29V thermobaric rocket as compatible RPG-29 ammunition; the Iraq War public incidents cited here concern anti-armor use.
Attribution and supply-chain claims should be read narrowly. Salon reported that U.S. officials alleged Iranian supply of RPG-29s to Iraqi Shiite militiamen, but also noted that the launcher is Russian-made, that some U.S. officials had discussed possible Syrian-origin smuggling, and that only very few RPG-29s had been found in Iraq. Those caveats affect provenance, not the separately reported use of RPG-29s against coalition armor.
Sources: Business Insider RPG Threat, RPG-29, Salon Arming Our Own Enemies
