US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday it was time for Iranian-backed militias and their Iranian advisers who helped Iraq defeat Daesh to "go home".

The US is concerned that Iran will take advantage of gains against Daesh there and in Syria to expand the influence it gained after the US invasion in 2003, something Arab states like Saudi Arabia also oppose.

"Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh is coming to a close, those militias need to go home. The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control," Tillerson said at a news conference following a meeting with Iraq and Saudi Arabian leaders.

A senior US official said Tillerson had been referring to the PMF and the Quds Force, the foreign paramilitary and espionage arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iraq's military, armed by the US but supported by the PMF, ejected the ultra-hardline militant group from Mosul and other cities in northern Iraq this year.

Source: Khaleej Times