DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Saturday to ensure U.S. troops leave “as soon as possible”, Iranian state media reported.

“You must make sure that the Americans withdraw their troops from Iraq as soon as possible because expelling them has become difficult whenever they have had a long military presence in a country,” Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Peter Graff