At a meeting between the leaders of Iran and Iraq on Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid to address the issue of American troops remaining in the country, saying that “even one American in Iraq is too many.”
“The Americans are not friends of Iraq. The Americans have friendships with no one,” Khamenei said at the meeting, according to his official website. Although the US withdrew its forces from Iraq between 2020 and 2021 after more than seven years of war, about 2,500 US troops remain in the country as of 2023.
The meeting, which was also attended by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, was part of Rashid’s first visit to Iran since being elected president in October.
During the meeting, Khamenei also called for the full implementation of the border security agreement between the two countries that was signed last month.
Iran and Iraq were at war between 1980 and 1988 but the relationship between the two countries has significantly improved, especially after the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. At a joint press conference following the meeting, Raisi said that Iran and Iraq would continue to increase their cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, water, electricity, gas, and energy.