IRGC issues statement marking US forces' withdrawal from Iraq

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement marking the complete withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, according to a report by Mehr News. In the statement, the IRGC honoured the memory of figures it described as martyrs of the Islamic Resistance Front in Iraq and West Asia, particularly Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, along with combatants it said were killed over two decades of confrontation with American forces. The IRGC congratulated the Iraqi people, the Islamic Resistance Front and what it called the revolutionary combatants of the Islamic world on the event.

The IRGC said the expulsion of the United States from Iraq resulted from the steadfastness of the Iraqi people in pursuit of independence. It stated that the Iraqi people had demonstrated through their stand that national will is the greatest weapon against the demands of hegemonic powers, and described the outcome as a significant page in the history of the region's peoples' pursuit of freedom. According to the statement, the withdrawal amounted to the imposition of Iraq's will on what it called the American regime and the White House, adding that the United States, which it said has always spoken with the language of force, was forced to retreat from a land it had occupied for two decades.

The statement said: "America left, not through negotiation, not through favours, but through the determination of a nation that stood firm, the blood of mujahideen who gave their lives, and a resistance will that was never broken. Now Iraq, proud and free, stands on the ruins of a twenty-year occupation and watches the dawn of independence." The IRGC described the event as the first step in avenging the blood of Iraq's martyrs, particularly Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and said that, by God's grace, this would be completed with what it called America's full expulsion from the region.

The IRGC further stated that the United States must leave the region and leave security management to its peoples. It argued that two decades of occupation showed that the American presence brought no security and was itself a source of insecurity, terrorism and instability in West Asia. It cited approximately five thousand deaths by the US's own admission, which it said was not the real figure, and four trillion dollars in costs, describing these as evidence of what it called a heavy defeat. The IRGC called the withdrawal a major achievement for the Axis of Resistance and said the Iraqi people, by continuing what it termed this sacred movement, would also end American interference in their country's economy and oil and shape a bright future through unity and national will.

The statement added that the United States has never been and is not a reliable support, and that realities on the ground affirm that it is leaving while these peoples must build their countries. It said the expulsion from Iraq is a prelude to expulsion from all of West Asia and the geography of the Islamic Ummah, and described the outcome as the product of Iraq's national will, the struggle of Resistance currents, popular support and the actions of the Iraqi government. In conclusion, the IRGC stressed the need for intelligence and vigilance by the government, people and Resistance forces of Iraq against possible plots and seditions it attributed to the United States and its allies aimed at creating renewed insecurity and instability. It declared that Iran continues to stand beside the peoples of the region and will not rest until what it called the complete liberation of Holy al-Quds. The report by Mehr News added that the statement was issued by the IRGC.