ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday praised the US-led coalition’s withdrawal from Iraq as a “great victory,” saying it marks the beginning of “a golden chapter” in the region.

On Wednesday, the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) completed its withdrawal from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The coalition’s withdrawal was a key demand of several political forces and many Iran-backed Iraqi militias, with the armed groups saying the coalition had to leave before they could consider disarming. 

“The expulsion of the US from Iraq was the result of the proud Iraqi nation's steadfast commitment to its independence,” the IRGC said in a statement on Thursday, calling it a “historic victory.”

The IRGC congratulated the Iraqi people and the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance front in Iraq for what it described as “two decades of confrontation with American aggressors.”

Under Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government, Baghdad has led a renewed drive to disarm militias and restrict weapons to state control, vowing to complete all disarmament by the end of September, and drawing the ire of pro-Iran armed factions in the country.

On Thursday, Zaidi announced that Baghdad will work to disarm all non-Iraqi armed groups present on Iraqi soil by June 2027, adding that it will also formalize the Popular Mobilization Forces’ (PMF) status within the national security apparatus.

“By continuing this sacred movement, it will also put an end to US interference in their country’s economy and oil sector, forging a bright future for themselves through national unity and determination,” it said, adding that it “marks a golden chapter in the history of the region's nations' quest for freedom.”

Several pro-Iran factions rejected the notion of handing arms to the state, saying they would not surrender their weapons, leading Baghdad to seek other mechanisms to regulate the factions’ weapons in a manner that would be acceptable to the groups.

The groups have long used the US-led coalition’s presence in the country as a reason to maintain their weapons.