The US has some 5,000 troops in Iraq

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper has denied US troops are pulling out of Iraq, after a letter from a US general there suggested a withdrawal.

The letter said the US would be “repositioning forces in the coming days and weeks” after Iraqi MPs had called for them to leave.

Esper said there had been “no decision whatsoever to leave”.

The confusion came amid threats to American forces after the US killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

The letter appeared to have been sent by Brig Gen William H Seely, head of the US military’s task force in Iraq, to Abdul Amir, the deputy director of Combined Joint Operations.