US and Iraqi officials drawing up plan that could see American troops pulling out as soon as next year

Washington and Baghdad are working on a plan to draw down the U.S. troop presence in Iraq as soon as next year.

The U.S. and Iraq have reached an "understanding" on plans to have hundreds of U.S. troops leave Iraq by September 2025 and the remainder leave by January 2027, according to a new Reuters report. However, no set-in-stone decision has been made, two defense officials told Fox News, and the timing is in flux.

While the U.S. pulled out the last of its troops from Afghanistan in 2021, some 2,500 troops still remain in Iraq, and 900 remain in Syria.

The remaining service members in Iraq are largely focused on combating ISIS under a global coalition, known as Operation Inherent Resolve. Last month, the U.S. carried out a joint raid, killing 15 ISIS fighters in Western Iraq.

When asked about the Reuters report on Monday, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told reporters that U.S. and Iraqi officials "continue to have their discussions" on drawing down troops, as they have been since the start of the year. He would not comment on the accuracy of the report.

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"As part of the U.S. Iraq Joint Security Cooperation dialog, we establish the Higher Military Commission, that will look at, the transition of the global coalition, into a long-term U.S. Iraq bilateral security cooperation relationship. And so those conversations are ongoing. And I just don't want to get ahead of that process."

The U.S. initially invaded Iraq in 2003, toppling Saddam Hussein's regime and drawing down its troop presence from wartime levels in 2007 and leaving altogether in 2011, before returning in 2014 at the head of the coalition to fight the Islamic State.

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