The withdrawal followed calls from the government and senior militia leaders. It ended a two-day crisis marked by the breach of the largest and one of the most heavily fortified US diplomatic missions in the world.

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The attack and its volatile aftermath prompted the Pentagon to send hundreds of additional troops to the Middle East and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to delay a European and Central Asian trip.

In an orchestrated assault, hundreds and perhaps thousands of militiamen and their supporters broke into the embassy compound, destroying a reception area, smashing windows and spraying graffiti on walls to protest US airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia over the weekend that killed at least 30 fighters, according to some reports.

The US blamed the militia for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in the northern city of Kirkuk last week that killed a US defense contractor and wounded two others.

The protesters set up a tent camp overnight and on Wednesday set fire to the reception area and hurled stones at US Marines guarding the compound, who responded with tear gas. There were no injuries on either side and no American staff was evacuated from the compound.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of state-allied Shiite militias – many backed by Iran – called on its supporters to withdraw in response to an appeal by the Iraqi government, saying "your message has been received."

By late afternoon the tents had been taken down and the protesters relocated to the opposite side of the Tigris River, outside the so-called Green Zone housing government offices and foreign embassies. US Apache helicopters circled overhead.

"After achieving the intended aim, we pulled out from this place triumphantly," said Fadhil al-Gezzi, a militia supporter. "We rubbed America's nose in the dirt." US President Donald Trump has vowed to exact a "big price" for an attack he blamed squarely on Iran.

Kata'ib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia targeted by the US airstrikes, initially refused to leave but later bowed to demands to disperse. The militia is separate from the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, though both are backed by Iran.

"We don't care about these planes that are flying over the heads of the picketers. Neither do we care about the news that America will bring Marines," said Mohammed Mohy, a spokesman for Kata'ib Hezbollah. "On the contrary, this shows a psychological defeat and a big mental breakdown that the American administration is suffering from," he said, before withdrawing from the area.

The violence came as Iran and its allies across the region have faced unprecedented mass protests in recent months and heavy US sanctions have cratered Iran's economy.

Iraq has been gripped by anti-government protests since October fueled by anger at widespread corruption and economic mismanagement, as well as Iran's heavy influence over the country's affairs. Those protesters were not involved in the embassy attack.

The Pentagon sent an infantry battalion of about 750 soldiers to the Middle East. A US official familiar with the decision said they would go to Kuwait. Pompeo postponed a trip that was scheduled to start in Ukraine late Thursday so that he can monitor developments in Iraq and "ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East," said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus.

Iran denied involvement in the attack on the embassy. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted by media as saying that "if the Islamic republic makes a decision to confront any country, it will do it directly."

Iran later summoned the Swiss charge d'affaires, who represents American interests in Tehran, to protest what it said was warmongering by US officials.

Public consular operations at the embassy were suspended and future appointments canceled, it said in a statement.

Tensions have steadily risen since Trump withdrew the US from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and embarked on a campaign of maximum pressure through economic sanctions. Iran has responded by abandoning some of its commitments under the deal and ratcheting up its belligerent behavior in the region.

US officials, as well as other countries, have blamed Iran for the sabotage of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and a drone attack on Saudi oil facilities in September that caused a spike in world oil prices. But the Trump administration has not responded with direct military action, perhaps fearing a wider conflict.

The US has sent more than 14,000 additional troops to the Gulf region since May in response to concerns about Iranian aggression. At the time of the attack, the US had about 5,200 troops in Iraq, mainly to train Iraqi forces and help them combat Islamic State extremists.

The US and Iran have vied for influence over Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Iran has close ties to Iraq's Shiite majority and major political factions, and its influence has steadily grown since then.

Iran helped to mobilize tens of thousands of mostly Shiite militiamen to battle the Islamic State group when it stormed across northern and western Iraq in 2014 as the armed forces collapsed. The US and Iran both provided vital aid to Iraqi forces, who eventually declared victory over the extremists in December 2017.

The political influence of the Popular Mobilization Forces has risen in recent years, and their allies dominate the parliament and the government. That has made them the target of the anti-government protesters, who have attacked Iranian diplomatic missions and the local headquarters of parties affiliated with the militias across southern Iraq.

They have also set up a sprawling protest camp in central Baghdad, and for weeks have been trying to enter the Green Zone. Iraqi security forces have beaten them back with tear gas and live ammunition, killing hundreds.

The militiamen and their supporters, however, were able to quickly enter the Green Zone and mass in front of the embassy, with little if any resistance from authorities.

Iraq's government vehemently condemned the airstrikes on the militia, saying it violated national sovereignty. But Iran and its allies might have also seen the attack as a way of diverting attention from the anti-government protests.

"Iran has been trying to provoke the US into helping it solve its Iraq problem," said the Crisis Group, an international think tank. "The Trump administration, by responding to the attacks in Kirkuk and elsewhere with airstrikes, has obliged."

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"Iran will always stand by the Iraqi nation and the Iraqi government. We are calling on them to preserve unity and to show restraint," government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference.

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The unrest is the biggest security and political challenge for Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi's government since it took power a year ago.

Clashes between police and anti-government protesters have revived fears of a new spiral of violence that could suck in influential militia groups and be exploited by Islamic State.

The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – Iraq's umbrella grouping of mostly Shiite Muslim paramilitaries backed by Iran – played an important role in defeating ISIS and formally became part of the armed forces last year, reporting to the prime minister.

Some Iranian officials have accused the United States and Israel of stoking the unrest in Iraq. A cleric said on Friday the unrest was planned by Tehran's longtime foes to disrupt a major annual Shiite Muslim pilgrimage planned to be held there this month.

Rabiei also said Iran would continue efforts to ease tensions in the Gulf by improving ties with its Gulf Arab neighbors.

In a related development, Iraq's army command says the prime minister has ordered that police replace the army in the heavily populated Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad where dozens were killed or wounded in clashes over the weekend.

Monday's order for the withdrawal of the army from Sadr City appears aimed at calming tensions in the neighborhood, where a populist Shiite cleric enjoys wide support.

Iraq's national security adviser vowed to fight attempts to "bring down the Iraqi state." Falih Alfayyadh said an ongoing investigation would prove who was behind the violence in Baghdad and predominantly Shiite southern provinces.

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No coalition or US-occupied facility was struck in Monday night's attack in which two Katyusha rockets were fired into the heavily fortified Green Zone, according to a statement issued by the coalition and Iraqi security forces.

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The rockets landed a few hundred meters away from the US Embassy compound's perimeters, triggering alert sirens that sounded across the capital's Tigris River.

"We take this incident seriously as do our Iraqi security forces partners," the coalition statement said.

No side has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid heightened tensions in the region following an attack on Saudi oil installations that the US has blamed on Iran.

Similar attacks in the past have sometimes been blamed by Iraqi forces on Iranian-backed militias in Baghdad.

The militias have recently said they will retaliate to a series of airstrikes that have targeted their bases and weapons depots in recent weeks. No one has claimed the attacks but Israel, which frequently targets Iranian interests in neighboring Syria, is believed to be behind at least some of them. Some Iran-backed groups have publicly blamed Israel and its US ally by extension.

A member of the Popular Mobilization Forces, the umbrella group for Iran-backed militias, said the forces fired the rockets at the Green Zone from the Dora district southwest of the capital. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give this information.

A senior security official refrained from pointing fingers and said authorities were still investigating Tuesday night's rocket attack. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, the official said that Iran-backed militias were likely to have fired the rockets considering they had vowed to retaliate to the airstrikes on their bases.

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