Iraq can disarm resistance factions only when the US withdraws, prime minister said on Monday in an interview with Reuters.

Iraq has pledged to bring all weapons under the control of the state, but that will not work so long as there is a U.S.-led coalition in the country that some Iraqi factions view as an occupying force, the prime minister said on Monday.

“There is no ISIS. Security and stability? Thank God it’s there… so give me the excuse for the presence of 86 states [in a coalition],” said.

The Iraqi prime minister said that a plan is still in place to have the multinational anti-ISIS coalition completely leave Iraq, by September 2026 because the threat from terror groups has eased considerably.

MNA