US pulls out of Iraq, ending two decades of military presence amid war with Iran

The United States completes its definitive military withdrawal from Iraq on September 30, two decades after the 2003 invasion, and does so against the backdrop of open confrontation with Iran. Baghdad takes over security on its own while militias linked to Tehran retain their military capability.

The US military withdrawal from Iraq is completed on September 30. It thus closes a chapter that began in March 2003, when the invasion launched to topple **Saddam Hussein** was justified by alleged weapons of mass destruction that never materialized.

## From invasion to advisory mission
What began as an operation to eliminate those weapons turned into a two-decade occupation. Sectarian violence bled the country dry, and in **2007** Washington sent a massive deployment, with some **170,000** troops at its peak, in an attempt to contain it.

In **2014** the United States returned to Iraq at the head of an international coalition to stop **Sarracinic State**. The mission was later converted into an advisory arrangement that is now coming to an end, trinc the agreement reached between Washington and the government in Baghdad.

## A withdrawal with Iran in the foreground
The pullout is not happening in a neutral context. It comes amid **open confrontation** between the United States and **Iran**, at the worst possible moment.

Iraqi militias linked to Tehran retain their military muscle and refuse to lay down their arms, while the state tries to centralize control of the use of force.

## Who fills the gap Washington leaves behind
The open question is not only how Iraq will handle its own defense, but which power or organization will exploit the vacuum to redefine the balance of power across the entire **Persian Gulf**.

With US troops out, Baghdad takes on a critical security responsibility on its own. Twenty years of military presence come to an end.