Pro-Iran media celebrates Trump’s 'endless wars' withdrawal

Due to Iranian proxies targeting US forces over the past year, Iran would view this withdrawal as a win.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
U.S. soldiers are seen during a handover ceremony of Taji military base from US-led coalition troops to Iraqi security forces, in the base north of Baghdad, Iraq August 23, 2020. (photo credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)
U.S. soldiers are seen during a handover ceremony of Taji military base from US-led coalition troops to Iraqi security forces, in the base north of Baghdad, Iraq August 23, 2020.
(photo credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS)
In rare support for the US, a series of pro-Iranian regime media appeared to celebrate reports of US troop withdrawals.
On Wednesday, media reports that the Trump administration will order withdrawal of troops from Iraq. It appears several thousand troops could leave. In some ways, this is a result of the US handing over more than a half-dozen posts to Iraqi troops as the war on ISIS winds down. However, Iranian-backed militias have been targeting US forces in Iraq over the past year, firing rockets almost daily and seeking to bomb trucks that supply US forces. Iran would view this as a win, reports indicate. The pro-Iran Badr Organization, for instance, has rejected a limited US withdrawal, demanding total US withdrawal.
The first Iranian report about US withdrawal was in Fars News. The report quoted a Russian network as saying that the US will announce the withdrawal of more US forces from Afghanistan. “The report comes amid a dispute between Trump and a senior pentagon official over the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Iran portrays this as a conflict between Trump and his generals, arguing that Trump opposes the generals who “want nothing more than war.” In a bizarre turn of events, the Iranian media, usually hostile to the US and the Trump administration that has put “maximum pressure” on Iran through sanctions, sees Trump as potentially doing it a favor.  
Iran is closely monitoring Afghanistan, it’s neighbor. The current head of the IRGC Quds Force Ismael Ghaani is an expert on Afghanistan, unlike his predecessor Qasem Soleimani, who the US killed. Ghaani would like to have a stronger Iranian hand in Afghanistan.
Iran, relying on US media reports, expects just 4,000 US troops to be in Afghanistan by the November elections. In the US. “Trump has stepped up his anti-war rhetoric in recent months,” Fars News says.  
In Iraq, the US looks set to reduce forces to some 3,000 troops from 5,000. Al-Mayadeen news, which tends to be sympathetic to Iran and Hezbollah, has highlighted Trump’s promise to stop “endless absurd foreign wars,” according to their report Wednesday. Al-Mayadeen also noted that Trump is not happy with his secretary of defense and sought to make it seem that Trump wants to withdraw while the military brass want to keep fighting.  
At Tasnim News, another pro-regime Iranian website, the reports highlight US wasted spending over the years in Afghanistan and other foreign wars. The website, which calls US forces “terrorists,” says the “commander of US terrorist is withdrawing 2,200 troops from Iraq this month.” An article looking at the “failed” US global war on terror asserts that an “examination of the situation shows that the United States, neither in the political and social spheres, the expansion of imperialism, nor in the economic and security spheres, has failed to achieve the goals in the policies pursued under the pretext of the 9/11 attacks.” Tasnim says that Washington is “sinking deeper and deeper into self-made quagmire.”


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