OTTAWA — Canada will respect any decision by the Iraqi government to expel foreign troops from the country, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Friday, even as reports suggested the United States was considering sanctions and cuts to military aid should Baghdad give American forces the boot.

Speaking to reporters by phone during a visit to the Middle East, where he met with some of the hundreds of Canadian troops participating in the five-year fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Sajjan said Canada wants to continue its military training efforts in Iraq.

Yet the minister, whose visit included stops in Jordan and Kuwait, acknowledged that “obviously the Iraqi government has concerns” and that western allies are “listening to those concerns” and trying to address them through talks.

Storyin Iraq in limbo amid escalating tensions

Iran did fire a volley of ballistic missiles at U.S. and coalition bases in Iraq, including one in Irbil the Canadian special-forces troops have used for years. No serious injuries were reported.

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While some Canadian troops have since returned to work, others remain on lockdown. Overshadowing everything are questions about whether the Iraqi government will expel all foreign troops.

Following Soleimani’s death, the Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling for them to leave. While many Sunni and Kurdish parliamentarians boycotted the vote, outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi voiced his own support for the resolution.

Abdul-Mahdi, who announced his resignation following mass demonstrations in December but remains in a caretaker role for now, has since said he will leave the decision