US troops are set to fully withdraw from Iraq by September 30, the country’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, said at a meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.

“Well, we don’t think we need the military there anymore,” Trump said at the White House.

Previously, about 2,500 US troops were deployed in Iraq, carrying out counter-Islamic State operations, but that number has declined in recent months.

Al-Zaidi’s government has tied the planned US withdrawal to the disarming of powerful Iran-backed militias.

“On September 30th, American forces will leave, and American companies will enter,” Zaidi said. “After 30 September, we will not allow any entity to bear arms outside the state.”

US will do ‘lots of deals’ with Iraq

The main focus of Al-Zaidi’s trip to Washington is securing major US investment in his country’s oil, gas, and power sectors.

During the Oval Office meeting, Al-Zaidi previewed an announcement of an ‘economic partnership’ between the two countries.

Trump said Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of deals,” Trump said. “We’re going to create a lot of jobs for both countries, and we’re going to be taking out a lot of oil,” Trump said, without giving details.

Two Iraqi officials said Iraq, Chevron, TI Capital, and Qatar’s UCC are set to sign a deal on Friday to build a 2mn-barrel-per-day oil pipeline linking Basra to Haditha and extending to ports in Turkey and Syria.

DW