Iranian Revolutionary Guards hails US withdrawal from Iraq, calls for wider American exit from region

TEHRAN, Oct 1: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has hailed the completion of the US military mission in Iraq, describing the withdrawal as a “historic victory” and calling for American forces to leave the wider region.

In a statement marking the end of the US-led military mission, the IRGC said the departure was the result of what it described as the “will of the Iraqi people” and resistance and action by the Iraqi government. It called the US withdrawal the “first step toward the full expulsion of American forces” from West Asia and urged Washington to leave regional security to the countries of the region. The IRGC also described the development as a sign of what it called the liberation of West Asia from US domination.

The US and its coalition partners formally concluded Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq on September 30, following the orderly departure of coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the 12-year campaign had defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and the region, while responsibility for Iraq’s remaining security challenges now rests primarily with the Iraqi government.

The withdrawal followed a September 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington to end the coalition’s military mission in Iraq and transition toward bilateral security relations. The US-led coalition was established in 2014 after ISIS seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. The United States had initially invaded Iraq in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein and withdrew its combat forces in 2011 before returning in 2014 to support the fight against ISIS.

Note: The IRGC's characterization of the withdrawal as an “expulsion” and a “historic victory” is its own political characterization; the Pentagon describes the departure as the planned conclusion of the Iraq mission under the US-Iraq transition agreement.