Following the killing by the U.S. of Iran’s Qods Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, along with Iraqi paramilitary officials, the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution urging the government to “work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, air space or water for any reason”. The prime minister’s office subsequently announced that “the relevant Iraqi officials in various government departments were preparing a memo outlining the legal and procedural steps required to implement parliament’s resolution on the withdrawal of foreign troops”. President Trump maintained that “if they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame”. He further noted that “we have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. Long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it”.