October 7, Tehran (RASSAFP) – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has welcomed the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq as a ‘historic victory,’ calling on the United States to completely exit West Asia. In a statement released Thursday, the Revolutionary Guards congratulated the Iraqi people, the Islamic Resistance Joint Front, and revolutionary fighters across the Islamic world for the US military’s pullout. The statement was published through the Guards’ official media channels.
The US-led coalition deployed in Iraq and Syria since 2014 to combat the Islamic State (IS) formally ended its military operations and withdrew from Iraq on Wednesday. At its peak, IS controlled significant territories in both countries. Although IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, coalition forces continued operations against remaining IS cells.
The Revolutionary Guards asserted that the US military presence did not ensure regional security and urged America to leave West Asia, entrusting security management to the nations themselves. The US presence spanning two decades has been blamed for increasing regional insecurity, terrorism, and instability. Iraq and the US had agreed to conclude the coalition mission in 2024, after which coalition forces began gradually withdrawing from bases across Iraq. Recently, their presence had been limited to the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The Iraqi government stated that following the coalition’s withdrawal, a significant justification previously used by powerful Iran-backed armed groups to retain their weapons has been removed. Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Jaidi announced a new deadline of June 30 for armed groups to hand over their weapons to the state.
