BAGHDAD: Iraq wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of US-led military forces from its soil but has not set a deadline, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said, describing their presence as destabilizing amid regional spillover from the Gaza war.
Longstanding calls by mostly Shiite factions, many close to Iran, for the US-led coalition’s departure have gained steam after a series of US strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq’s formal security forces.
Those strikes, which came in response to dozens of drone and missile attacks on US forces since Israel launched its Gaza campaign, have raised fears that Iraq could once again become a theater for regional conflict.
“There is a need to reorganize this relationship so that it is not a target or justification for any party, internal or foreign, to tamper with stability in Iraq and the region,” Al-Sudani said in an interview in Baghdad.
Giving the first details of his thinking about the future of the coalition since his Jan. 5 announcement that Iraq would begin the process of closing it down, Al-Sudani said the exit should be negotiated under “a process of understanding and dialogue.”
“Let’s agree on a time frame (for the coalition’s exit) that is, honestly, quick, so that they don’t remain long and the attacks keep happening,” he said, noting that only an end to Israel’s war on Gaza would stop the risk of regional escalation.
“This (end of the Gaza war) is the only solution. Otherwise, we will see more expansion of the arena of conflict in a sensitive region for the world that holds much of its energy supply,” Al-Sudani said.
A US withdrawal would likely increase concern in Washington about the influence of arch foe Iran over Iraq’s ruling elite. Iran-backed Shiite groups gained strength in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Pentagon on Monday said it had no plans to withdraw US troops, which are in Iraq at the invitation of its government.
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, has been among the fiercest critics of Israel’s Gaza campaign, describing the mass killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians as a textbook case of genocide, claims Israel vehemently denies.
But Iraq’s government has repeatedly also said the attacks by armed groups on foreign forces and diplomatic missions in Iraq were illegal and went against the country’s interests, and says it has arrested some perpetrators and prevented attacks.
At the same time, Baghdad has condemned US strikes on bases used by the groups, as well as a recent strike against a senior militia commander in the heart of Baghdad, as grave violations of sovereignty.
Critics say the armed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah and Haraket Hezbollah Al-Nujaba, use their status as members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a state security force that began as a grouping of militias in 2014, as a cover.
Al-Sudani said he was seeking the coalition’s exit because Iraq could now defend itself from terrorism and should exert full sovereignty over its territory — thereby avoiding giving anyone an excuse to draw Iraq into regional conflict.
“Ending its presence will prevent more tensions and the entanglement of internal and regional security issues,” he said.
He added that Iraq was open to establishing bilateral relations and engaging in security cooperation with coalition nations, including the US.
“The US is not an enemy to us and we are not at war with it, but if these tensions continue it will definitely impact and create a gap in this relationship.”