Iran Guards hail US withdrawal from Iraq as 'historic victory'
Iran Guards hail US withdrawal from Iraq as a "historic victory" and urge American troops to leave the Middle East after the anti-IS coalition ended its mission
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A US military transport aircraft stands at Camp Victory near Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad, Iraq, September 29, 2026.
Reuters
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday welcomed the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq as a "historic victory" and called for American troops to leave the Middle East.
The statement came a day after the US-led coalition formally ended its mission in Iraq and Syria.
Did the US withdraw from Iraq?
Yes. On Wednesday, the US-led coalition that deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (IS) group formally concluded its mission and withdrew.
Baghdad and Washington agreed in 2024 to wind down the mission, and troops left bases across the country in stages.
What did the Revolutionary Guards say about the withdrawal?
The Revolutionary Guards "congratulate the proud nation of Iraq, the united front of the Islamic Resistance, and the revolutionary fighters of the Islamic world on this historic victory," they said in a statement carried by their official media.
"The US must leave the region and entrust the management of security to the nations themselves," said the statement by the Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military. "Two decades of occupation demonstrated that the US presence brought no security; rather, it was the very source of insecurity, terrorism, and instability in West Asia," it added.
Why was the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria?
The coalition deployed in 2014 to fight IS, which seized large swathes of both countries and committed massacres and atrocities. IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but coalition forces stayed on to battle the group's remnants.
As the mission wound down, troops restricted their presence to the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.
What does the withdrawal mean for Iraq's armed factions?
The Iraqi government says the coalition's withdrawal removes the excuse powerful Iran-backed militant factions have used to retain their weapons.
On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced June 30 as a new deadline for armed factions to turn over their weapons to the state.
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