Updated 11:25 a.m. ET Sunday
Iraq’s parliament, meeting for an emergency session, voted on Sunday to expel the thousands of American troops stationed in the country, the latest response to a United States drone strike that killed the influential Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The vote still needs the approval of the Iraqi government, which has permitted a U.S. presence in the country to help combat the Islamic State.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi told parliament that Iraq was grateful for the assistance the U.S. has provided in fighting ISIS, but he is now recommending that the 5,200 American troops stationed there permanently leave the country.
Abdul-Mahdi said President Trump called him to ask for help in mediating with Iran after the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was attacked.
Soon after, the U.S. launched the drone strike that killed Soleimani and also claimed the life of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Sunni and Kurdish members of parliament boycotted the session, but Shiite parties, many of them Iranian-backed, had enough votes to pass the resolution.
The parliament vote on Sunday is non-binding. The current outgoing government could try to delay the move, but it would be difficult to reject the proposal outright.
Abdul-Mahdi, who resigned in November, has assumed a caretaker role until parliament approves a successor. That could leave the final say on the future of U.S. forces in Iraq to his eventual replacement.
The remaining U.S. forces in Iraq are part of an international coalition that arrived after about a third of the country became overrun by the Islamic State. Since then, Iraq has claimed victory over the jihadists, but the U.S.-led coalition has remained in order to prevent an ISIS resurgence.
This past week, a senior State Department official said the U.S. was working with allies on the ground in Iraq to prevent the vote from happening, efforts that appear to have failed.
Talking to reporters on background, the official said Iraqis want the American presence in their country.
“Now, there are Iranian proxies who do not want us there, and they are threatening to kill or attack, intimidate those of the Iraqis who want us there to fight ISIS, to help build their military, to stabilize their financial system,” the official said.
Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Iran in an emotional outpouring of respect for Soleimani, whose remains arrived in a casket to the Islamic Republic as part of nationwide mourning for the man widely considered the second-most-powerful figure in the country after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .
As the casket was driven slowly in western city of Ahvaz, the enormous grief-stricken crowds chanted and waved banner bearing the face of Soleimani, a powerful military leader who until his death led Iran’s elite Quds Force .
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeastern city of Mashhad hold funeral procession of assassinated martyrs Hajj Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis. Their bodies were transferred from Ahvaz and the funeral will continue in Tehran. pic.twitter.com/1Vamu0fDOy
— Zahra Shafei 🇮🇷 (@shafei_d) January 5, 2020
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike Friday, ratcheting up tensions between Tehran and Washington and prompting vows of retaliation from top Iranian leaders.
In Iraq, the U.S. drone strike has stirred widespread discontent.
Meanwhile in Iran’s Parliament, lawmakers chanted “Death to America!” in unison. It followed President Trump warning that the U.S. would target 52 “high level & important” Iranian sites in the event that Iran retaliates.
Iranian MPs unanimously chanted “death to America” in the chamber to protest against Soleimani’s assassination by the US.
For more, head here: https://t.co/hLfskzgSvz pic.twitter.com/X8fanALhiM
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 5, 2020
In response, Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said targeting Iranian cultural sites would be a war crime. “Whether kicking or screaming, [the] end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun,” Zarif tweeted.
In an interview with NPR on Sunday, retired general David Petraeus said “it is impossible to overstate the importance” of the U.S. killing Soleimani, saying the major question now is how Iran will retaliate, likely, he said through the country’s proxy forces.
“Iran is not in the strongest of positions, given the sanctions, dismal economy and widespread Iranian popular unrest,” Petraeus said. “I tend to think it is more likely that we will see a variety of proxy attacks,” he said. “And Iran has a lot of proxies throughout the region, thanks to the efforts of Qassem Soleimani.”
“There’s no question that the tensions have been dramatically increased as a result of this action,” Petraeus said. ” … This is clearly heading in a very bad direction. Make no mistake about it: There will be losses on all sides if this escalates further.”
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