〰 According to a Pentagon report:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted Ali Al-Zaydi, the Iraqi prime minister, at the Pentagon and urged Baghdad to assert its sovereignty and disarm armed groups aligned with Iran that, according to him, carried out more than 600 attacks against U.S. forces during the Iran war.

The United States also wants Iraqi forces—including the Peshmerga and other security forces of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region—to gradually reduce the mission of the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition and take primary responsibility for the anti-ISIS operations.

Hegseth emphasized that a stable and secure Iraq would provide the conditions for the expansion of economic and defense cooperation between Washington and Baghdad.