U.S. withdraws forces in Iraq as balance of power shifts to Iran

Washington Post-Sept30th2026

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BAGHDAD — U.S. military forces withdrew from bases in Iraq on Wednesday following two decades of American involvement that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and thousands of U.S. troops, and now leaves a battered but increasingly influential Iran at the center of the region’s future.

The last remaining forces relocated to Jordan, the headquarters for the ongoing mission to fight Islamic State militants, U.S. officials said.

The departure of U.S. forces and equipment “marks a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Wednesday.

“The primary responsibility for addressing Iraq’s remaining security challenges, including ISIS remnants and Iran-aligned militias that undermine Iraqi sovereignty and regional stability, now rests with the Government of Iraq,” Parnell said.

The withdrawal concludes a Biden administration agreement made in 2024 to zero out U.S. military personnel in Iraq by this year. The troops departed from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, which housed most of the 1,500 combined U.S. personnel and coalition members assigned to the counter-Islamic State mission, Central Command said in a statement.

That mission will continue in Jordan with a focus on militants in Syria, according to Centcom, which oversees U.S. operations in the region. U.S. forces can also launch attacks into Iraq from there if they see threats to U.S. personnel and interests, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military planning.

The redeployment of U.S. forces has been a muted event in Washington. The 2003 invasion triggered a significant human and financial toll that will be felt for generations. As many as 210,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between the invasion and 2023, along with 4,599 U.S. service members, according to figures from Brown University’s Cost of War Project.

Roughly 170,000 U.S. troops were in the country at the height of the war in 2007, when sectarian violence spiraled out of control. President Barack Obama vowed to end the unpopular conflict after he was elected in 2008. He declared an end to combat operations and an eventual pullout in 2011.

The Islamic State, born of al-Qaeda militants and other extremists, blitzed across Iraq and Syria in 2014, prompting Obama and an international coalition to reenter the region in a campaign that lasted into the first Trump administration.

The decades of conflict have cost U.S. taxpayers more than $2.8 trillion, Brown estimated, including related veterans care and operations in Syria.

Iraq emerged from the conflict with the Islamic State with a growing economy and a quasi-democracy that has been tested by religious sects in the government, particularly those with close ties to Tehran.

The U.S. departure has been celebrated as a victory in Iran, which remains in an uneasy ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel following months of war.

Iran has long taken advantage of Iraq’s destabilization, seeding the government with friendly officials and arming militant groups that have expanded Tehran’s influence.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, remarked on the U.S. withdrawal last month during a diplomatic visit to Baghdad that included a visit to the site where Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. strike in 2020.