Supporters of a Shi'ite armed group celebrate the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, ending a military presence that began after the 2003 US-led invasion, in Basra, Iraq, Sept. 30, 2026. (Credit: Essam Al-Sudani/ Reuters)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday welcomed the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as a "historic victory" and called for American troops to leave the Middle East.
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," the guards said in a statement carried by their official media.
On Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition that deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (IS) group formally concluded its mission and withdrew.
IS, which seized large swathes of both countries and committed massacres and atrocities, was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but coalition forces stayed on to battle the group's remnants.
"The U.S. must leave the region and entrust the management of security to the nations themselves," said the statement by the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military.
"Two decades of occupation demonstrated that the U.S. presence brought no security; rather, it was the very source of insecurity, terrorism, and instability in West Asia," it added.
Baghdad and Washington agreed in 2024 to wind down the coalition's mission, and its troops withdrew gradually from bases across the country, restricting their presence to the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.
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.
