Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has hailed the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq as a historic victory and the beginning of Washington’s “expulsion” from the region and the wider Islamic world.
The withdrawal was “a great, significant historical event and a tremendous achievement for the axis of resistance,” the powerful military organization said in a statement carried by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Thursday.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that the last US troops had left Iraq, ending more than two decades of American military involvement in the country.
The United States invaded Iraq with allies in 2003, toppling Saddam Hussein. US forces later played a major role in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi described the withdrawal as the beginning of a “new phase,” saying the departure of the US-led coalition meant Iraq had achieved full sovereignty.
He said October 1 also marked the start of a roadmap to end the presence of weapons outside state control, with the process due to be completed by June 30, 2027.
Powerful Iran-aligned militias were supposed to be disarmed and integrated into Iraq’s state security apparatus alongside the US withdrawal, but some of the country’s strongest armed groups have so far rejected disarmament.
Tehran has long opposed the US military presence in neighbouring Iraq and has cultivated close ties with Shiite militias there, incorporating them into its so-called “axis of resistance” against the United States and Israel.