Trump Welcomes Iraq's New PM With a Joke as US Ends Military Presence After 23 Years

The United States will withdraw all remaining troops from Iraq by September 30, 2026 , American and Iraqi officials confirmed Tuesday, formally closing a military chapter that began with the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. President Donald Trump, standing beside newly installed Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, said plainly, "we don't think we need the military there anymore," pointing instead to Iraq's deepening ties with American oil companies as the foundation of the relationship going forward. Al-Zaidi, speaking through an interpreter, confirmed that " US forces will be out of Iraq " by the deadline, adding pointedly that " US companies will be inside Iraq ."

The Pentagon followed with a statement reaffirming a 2024 agreement struck under the Biden administration to wind down the anti-Islamic State mission that had kept American forces in the country since 2014. Troop numbers have already thinned considerably: from a wartime peak of over 1,70,000 in 2007, the US presence had fallen to roughly 2,500 in recent years, and in January those forces completed a full pullout from the Ain al-Assad airbase, handing control to Iraqi security forces. What remains is a small contingent stationed in Erbil, near Baghdad's airport, and inside the capital's fortified Green Zone.

Baghdad has explicitly tied the American exit to a September 30 deadline of its own, for Iran-backed militias to disarm and place their weapons under state control. Two prominent factions, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib al-Imam Ali, have already announced plans to comply, alongside cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Saraya al-Salam group. But hardline factions including Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba have rejected the move outright, insisting disarmament cannot happen while foreign troops remain on Iraqi soil, a stance analysts say could leave Tehran's most aggressive proxies intact as leverage even as others fall in line.

The Washington visit wasn't only about troops. Iraqi officials say a major energy deal is set to be signed Friday, involving Chevron, TI Capital and Qatar's UCC, for a pipeline carrying two million barrels of oil daily from Basra through Haditha to Turkey's Ceyhan port and Syria's Baniyas. Al-Zaidi, a businessman-turned-premier already being called the "Trump of the Middle East," used the visit to court fresh investment even as he presses ahead with a domestic anti-corruption drive that has already netted dozens of arrests. Analysts caution, though, that dismantling Iraq's entrenched political-militia networks will prove far harder than winning a White House welcome.