The US troops in Iraq are there to stay unless the US government chooses to pull them out

 Since the 1990 US intervention in Iraq and the UNSC action after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Iraq lost control of its economy and that has not changed. The Iraqi government recently asked the US to schedule full withdrawal of the latter’s troops. That is unlikely to happen unless the US needs or wants to pull troops out, because the US maintains tight control over the Iraqi economy which is entirely dependent on oil. Revenues from the sale of Iraqi oil is processed by US banks and the US government is leveraging it to keep troops in Iraq. 

Member of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Jamal Kujar, confirmed that there are three economic files that the United States uses to pressure Iraq, namely the oil file, Iraqi funds in the US Treasury, and the dollar file, and that the release of Iraqi funds in the US Federal Bank has become conditional in accordance with American controls and specifications.

 Koger explained, “These files represent strong and influential pressure cards if used against Iraq, because the Iraqi economy is fragile and depends entirely on oil revenues at a rate of up to 94% of the gross national product.”

 Oil export revenues in 2023, according to data issued by the Ministry of Oil last January, amounted to about 87.6 billion dollars, at a rate of about 7.3 billion dollars per month. The country sold more than 1.23 billion barrels.

 Iraqi funds deposited with the US Federal Bank from oil export revenues, which is a procedure applied within the requirements of Chapter Seven of the United Nations procedures following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and is still in effect, in addition to the inclusion of new Iraqi companies and banks on the sanctions list it issues.