Iran Demands Withdrawal Of U.S. Troops From The Middle East As Condition For Peace

The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked the United States of America to withdraw its troops from the region.

Iran’s military leader, Esmail Qaani, made the call on Monday during the funeral of the late Quds forces commander, attended by multitudes of Iranians.

Esmail said American troops must leave the Middle East region, following the killing of Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike on Friday.

Reuters reported that Qaani, the new head of the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ unit in charge of activities abroad, said Iran would continue Soleimani’s path and that “the only compensation for us would be to remove America from the region.”

Iran’s Supreme leader had vowed to respond harshly to the US.

In another development, the Iraqi parliament reached a resolution on Sunday, that over five thousand American troops should leave their territory.

But in a swift reaction, Donald Trump said that the U.S. would go nowhere, except Iraq pays back for all the military investments made in the country.

Trump said the U.S. has an “extraordinarily expensive” air base in Iraq worth billions of dollars.

“We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it,” he said.

He also said that if the US is not able to leave Iraq on a “very friendly basis”, he would place the nation on strict sanctions “like they’ve never seen before.”