Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced during a meeting in Washington with US President Donald Trump that American forces will fully withdraw from Iraq by September 30. Currently, about 2,500 US troops are deployed in the country for counter-Islamic State operations, but numbers have declined in recent months.

Trump stated at the White House, "Well, we don't think we need the military there anymore." Al-Zaidi's government has linked the planned US withdrawal to the disarmament of powerful Iran-backed militias. "After September 30, we will not allow any entity to bear arms outside the state," he said.

The main focus of al-Zaidi's trip to Washington is securing major US investment in Iraq's oil, gas, and power sectors. During the Oval Office meeting, he previewed an "economic partnership" announcement. Trump said Iraq has tremendous potential because of its oil, adding, "We're going to be doing a lot of deals... creating jobs for both countries and taking out a lot of oil."

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

Source: www.dw.com