All news

US disappointed by Iraqi MPs voting to end foreign troops presence - spokesperson

US Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus believes "it is in the shared interests of the United States and Iraq to continue fighting ISIS together"

WASHINGTON, January 6./TASS/. The US is disappointed by the Iraqi parliament’s voting to end the presence of foreign troops in the country, US Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement that TASS has received in response to its request to comment on the voting.

"The United States is disappointed by the action taken today in the Iraqi Council of Representatives. While we await further clarification on the legal nature and impact of today's resolution, we strongly urge Iraqi leaders to reconsider the importance of the ongoing economic and security relationship between the two countries and the continued presence of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS," Morgan Ortagus said.

"We believe it is in the shared interests of the United States and Iraq to continue fighting ISIS (Islamic State terrorist group outlawed in Russia - TASS) together. This administration remains committed to a sovereign, stable, and prosperous Iraq," the spokesperson added.

Earlier on Sunday, the Iraqi parliament voted to remove the foreign troops from the country.

In the resolution adopted at the emergency session of Iraq’s Council of Representatives, the lawmakers said the "government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops in the republic and to cancel work under the security agreement with the international anti-terrorism coalition."

The resolution says, in particular, that "the government must take practical steps to ban any foreign troop presence, to prohibit them from using the country’s airspace and to revoke the request for assistance from the international coalition fighting the Islamic State terrorist organization."

The session was convened in the wake of a sharp deterioration of the situation in the country after a series of US strikes on Iraqi soil. On January 2, General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy leader of Iraqi Shiite paramilitary force Hashd al-Shaabi, were killed in one of the US strikes.