This archive report was first published on 5 January 2020.
US Troops Face Ouster in Iraq ¶
On January 5, 2020, Iraq's parliament voted 170-0 to expel US troops from the country, a move that follows a US drone strike that killed Iran's top military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, at Baghdad's airport on January 3, 2020.
The vote, which is not final until signed by Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, was met with widespread anger in Iraq, with many lawmakers and citizens calling for the US to leave the country.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and its president, Hassan Rouhani, have both promised to take 'revenge' for the killing, which has raised fears of further violence in the region.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria has suspended its fight against ISIS, citing recent attacks on Iraqi and American bases.
President Trump has threatened to hit Iran 'harder than they have ever been hit before,' while Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has accused the US of targeting cultural sites, which he says is a war crime.
As tensions continue to rise, the US and Iran are engaged in a war of words, with both sides trading threats and accusations.
Reporting was contributed by Alissa J. Rubin, Ben Hubbard, Falih Hassan, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Eric Schmitt, David D. Kirkpatrick, Tess Felder, Yonette Joseph, and Mariel Padilla.
