Trump says last US forces leave Iraq as Erbil Air Base closes
The withdrawal marks the formal end of Operation Inherent Resolve, closing a military mission that outlasted the caliphate it was built to fight
Published
Map: The Middle East, marking Erbil Air Base
President Trump said on Truth Social that the last American forces are leaving Iraq, with the Erbil Air Base departure marking the end of Operation Inherent Resolve. "We came to fight a caliphate. There is no longer a caliphate. We are going home," he wrote, framing the move as a choice to withdraw rather than keep a permanent presence.
The post confirms the formal end of the coalition mission in Iraq, a mission that closed on Wednesday.
The withdrawal adds no new detail on Iraq's oil export capacity or security posture. Iraqi crude flows have held near 2.65 million barrels a day through September, including 250,000 barrels a day routed via Turkey's Ceyhan port. Iran's own oil exports have plunged under a US naval blockade, while Saudi and Iraqi exports have rebounded.
US-Iran talks stalled again on Tuesday after Trump denied offering Tehran anything. The framing of the Iraq withdrawal as a political closure rather than a security shift is consistent with how the deadline has been read since it was first announced, and it leaves the operational picture for Iraqi crude and the wider Hormuz standoff unchanged.