Iraq’s foreign ministry announced Thursday that plans to ask the United States to extract their armed forces from the country have been postponed indefinitely.
“We were very close to announcing this agreement, but due to recent developments, the announcement of the end of the international coalition’s military mission in Iraq was postponed,” a spokesperson said in a statement on the matter without specifying the specific change in circumstances that led to the decision.
Baghdad had originally requested that the 2,500 U.S. personnel stationed in the Middle Eastern nation begin a one-year withdrawal procedure that was expected to start next month.
Regional tensions have been growing since the Islamic Republic revealed their determination to launch an offensive operation targeting Israel for their purported involvement in the July assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was visiting Iran as an official guest of the theocratic regime.
The U.S. contingent, deployed to assist in maneuvers against the Islamic State, has come under attack in the past from militias allied with the government in Tehran. These groups and their cross-border benefactors have reportedly placed pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani to remove the American military presence in his territory.
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