Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi on Wednesday ordered ministries, government bodies, and provinces to prepare official and public events marking Iraqi Sovereignty Day on October 1.

The Cabinet Secretariat said government institutions will also hold commemorations for Iraq’s martyrs and victims, while the directive calls for sovereignty-themed badges to be worn.

The commemoration follows Baghdad’s September 30 deadline for concluding the remaining Global Coalition military mission in Iraq. Al-Zaidi said in August that Iraq would be free of foreign military forces from October 1 and would enter a new phase of exercising full sovereignty over its territory.

On August 29, a senior US administration official told Shafaq News that the United States and its partners would reduce their military mission rather than end the Coalition itself, with security cooperation shifting toward a bilateral US-Iraq partnership.

Iraq and the United States agreed in September 2024 on a two-phase transition. The first phase ended in September 2025 with Coalition forces leaving Baghdad and Ain Al-Asad, while a contingent remained in the Kurdistan Region to support operations against ISIS in Syria through September 2026.

The State Administration Coalition separately set September 30 as the deadline for ending armed activity outside state institutions, although Prime Minister's adviser Qasim Al-Araji said on September 18 that no fixed deadline had been set for the committee overseeing the weapons-control process.