Story highlights Tillerson warned countries from doing business with entities connected to an Iranian military force

He said Saudi Arabia did not appear ready to discuss a resolution to the dispute with Qatar

Washington (CNN) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, anticipating an end to the fight against ISIS, said Sunday it was time for Iranian-backed militias to exit the war-torn nation of Iraq.

"Those militias need to go home," Tillerson said. "Any foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control of areas that had been overtaken by ISIS and Daesh that have now been liberated. Allow the Iraqi people to rebuild their lives with the help of their neighbors."

Tillerson was speaking in Riyadh alongside the Saudi Arabian foreign minister days after US-backed forces declared the liberation of Raqqa, ISIS's de facto capital in Syria. US forces remain in Iraq, supporting the government there and combating ISIS, as do forces backed by Iran.

The US under President Donald Trump has assumed a more aggressive posture towards Tehran, with Trump recently threatening to exit a multilateral agreement with Iran over its nuclear program.

Tillerson referenced this posture during his remarks in Saudi Arabia and said he spoke about it with Saudi leadership. He said both the US and Saudi Arabia are warning countries from doing business with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military body the US has accused of human rights abuses and sowing instability throughout the region.

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