The US armed forces do not plan to leave Iraq, Washington is negotiating with Baghdad on the presence of American troops in this Middle Eastern country, US Defense Department spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman told reporters.

According to him, the US Armed Forces have no plans to withdraw troops from Iraq and they are still in consultation with the Iraqi host, TASS reported.

We still want to be a friend and partner in a sovereign and prosperous Iraq, he noted adding that their desire and goal now is to keep US forces in the region, in Iraq.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, the US military has learned about Iran’s missile strike at two sites in Iraq that the US military used, thanks to an early detection system, and not from a third party.

We have an early detection system that turned out to be quite effective, he said, adding that thanks to this system there were no injuries or deaths during this attack.