The U.S. State Department applied diplomatic pressure to Iraq on Thursday after Iran-backed militia groups attacked U.S. diplomats in what the department called an “ambush.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau issued a diplomatic summons to Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, Nizar Khirullah, to condemn an April 8 attack by Iraqi militias on U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel in Baghdad.
“The deputy secretary emphasized the Iraqi government’s failure to prevent these attacks while some elements associated with the Iraqi government continue to actively provide political, financial and operational cover for the militias adversely impacts the U.S.-Iraq relationship,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott stated.
“The United States will not tolerate attacks on U.S. interests and expects the Iraqi government to immediately take all measures to dismantle the Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq,” Pigott said.
As part of its “popular mobilization forces,” Iraq has dozens of Iranian-backed Shia militia groups that are legally under the command of the Iraqi prime minister but support Iran in practice. Those include U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations like Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.
On April 8, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said that “Iran-aligned Iraqi terrorist militias conducted several drone attacks” near its diplomatic support center and Baghdad International Airport but did not report any casualties.
Iran and its proxies and supporters have carried out a wave of attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities since the start of the conflict, including strikes on the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. consulate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
On Tuesday, protesters stormed the Kuwaiti consulate in Basra, Iraq, after a rocket was reportedly fired from the direction of Kuwait and killed three Iraqis.
