BAGHDAD: A US-led coalition’s military mission in Iraq will end by September 2025 and there will be a transition to bilateral security partnerships, the United States and Iraq said in a joint statement on Friday.
The US has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat Islamic State as it rampaged through the two countries.
The joint statement provided few details, including how many US troops would leave Iraq and from which bases.
In a briefing with reporters on Friday, a senior US official said that the move was not a withdrawal and declined to say if any troops would even be leaving Iraq.
“I just want to foot stomp the fact that this is not a withdrawal. This is a transition. It’s a transition from a coalition military mission to an expanded US-Iraqi bilateral security relationship,” the official said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani initiated talks with Washington in January on the change. He has said that, while he appreciates their help, US troops have become a magnet for instability, frequently targeted and responding with strikes often not coordinated with the Iraqi government.

Reuters has reported that the agreement would see hundreds of troops leave by September 2025, with the remainder departing by the end of 2026.
Under the plan, all coalition forces would leave the Ain Al-Asad air base in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025.
US and other coalition troops are expected to remain in Irbil. Other nations, including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, contribute hundreds of troops to the coalition.
Officials told reporters that the US mission in Syria would continue.
The drawdown will mark a notable shift in Washington’s military posture in the Middle East.
While primarily focused on countering Islamic State, US officials acknowledge the US presence also serves as a strategic position against Iranian influence.
This position has grown more important as Israel and Iran escalate their regional confrontation, with US forces in Iraq shooting down rockets and drones fired toward Israel in recent months, according to US officials.
The agreement will likely present a political win for Sudani as he balances Iraq’s position as an ally of both Washington and Tehran.

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden ordered US forces in the Middle East to be adjusted “as necessary,” the White House said Friday, after Israel launched a wave of strikes on Lebanon’s capital Beirut targeting Hezbollah’s headquarters.
“He has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary US force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of US objectives,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden also ordered US embassies in the region to “take all protective measures as appropriate,” it said.
The US president, who traveled to his beach house in Delaware on Friday, had been briefed several times by his national security team, the White House added.
Biden had earlier confirmed that “the United States had no knowledge of or participation in the (Israeli) action,” adding in remarks to reporters that, “We’re gathering information.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said the US had no advance knowledge, adding that he had spoken by phone with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant “while Israel’s operation was already underway.”
A US official separately said Israel told Washington “once the operation was already ongoing and they had planes in the air.”
Israeli television networks reported that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strike, though a source close to Hezbollah said he was “fine.”