Iraq says US troop drawdown talks will go on ‘as long as nothing disturbs the peace of the talks’

WASHINGTON – The Iraqi govt met once more with the U.S. govt Sunday on how to attract down American troops who’ve been deployed there for years fighting the Islamic State.

The two governments had held their first, long-awaited assembly Jan. 27, however the ones conferences have been put on pause after Iran-backed militants struck a base in Jordan the very subsequent day with a drone that killed 3 U.S. provider contributors.

In the weeks since, the U.S. has introduced more than one retaliatory moves in Iraq and Syria together with a strike remaining week that killed a high-ranking commander of the robust Kataib Hezbollah armed forces who the U.S. mentioned is answerable for “directly planning and participating in attacks” on American troops in the area.

Both Iraq and the U.S. had agreed remaining August to go into into talks to transition U.S. forces from their long-standing position in helping Iraq in fighting IS. There are roughly 2,500 troops in the nation, and their departure will take into accout the safety scenario on the flooring, and the functions of the Iraqi military, the Iraq govt mentioned in a observation Sunday posted to X, previously Twitter.

The resumed conferences will proceed to chart a trail to a brand new bilateral courting “as long as nothing disturbs the peace of the talks,” Iraq said in its statement.

Iraq has long struggled to balance its ties with the U.S. and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government but regional archenemies. Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, Iran-aligned groups have struck at U.S. facilities in Iraq, Syria and Jordan 170 times, prompting retaliatory airstrikes by the U.S., which blames Kataib Hezbollah for a string of those attacks.

The Iraqi government has angrily condemned U.S. airstrikes against Kataib Hezbollah, which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, are state-sanctioned, mainly Shiite militias, which have grown into a powerful political faction estimated to have the most seats in the Iraqi parliament.

But the deaths of three U.S. service members at Tower 22 in Jordan was a red line for the U.S. and in the days following the deadly strike, Iran disavowed any knowledge or connection to the attack, and Kataib Hezbollah said it would cease launching attacks in order to not embarrass the Iraqi government.

Notably, there were no further moves in opposition to U.S. bases in Iraq since Feb. 4.