Report: Iraqi Militia Official Says Trump Must Withdraw US Troops

An Iraqi militia senior official issued an ultimatum to President Donald Trump regarding U.S. troops in the Middle Eastern country.

Firas al-Yasser, a member of the Nujaba Movement's Political Council, told Newsweek that Trump must adhere to a promise made by former President Joe Biden.

In September, the Biden administration announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by 2025, with U.S. troops departing some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decades-long military presence in the country.

At the time, the administration refused to provide details on how many of the approximately 2,500 U.S. troops still serving in Iraq will remain there or acknowledge it will mark a full withdrawal from the country.

Yasser made it seem that the Nujaba Movement, one of several Iraqi factions operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance, expects all U.S. troops to be withdrawn.

"Trump is obligated to withdraw his forces from Iraq by the end of 2025, and they must abide by their pledges to the Iraqi government," Yasser told Newsweek.

"We know that the occupying American forces cannot withstand the advanced and modern strikes of the resistance."

Although rocket attacks against American troops largely have been suspended since February 2024, tensions involving both the U.S. and Israel have reignited recently, the outlet said.

The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced March 14.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein recently said Israeli could be planning to strike the country.

Yasser said the Nujaba Movement was prepared to respond against either the U.S. or Israel.

"These warnings are nothing new," Yasser said, Newsweek reported. "Israel previously threatened Iraq in the Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood. We do not rule out that America and Israel seek to escalate the situation in the region, and what is happening in Gaza, Yemen, and the Syrian-Lebanese border confirms the provocative operations they are carrying out.

"The movement has received threats from America and Israel more than once, and if an attack is carried out against the movement or the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, there will be a response. The Iraqi resistance has targeted Israel in support of and defense of the people of Gaza."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.