Tehran says US strike on ally will have consequences as Washington warns of ‘additional defensive actions’

Erbil, Kurdistan Region — Iran’s foreign ministry has warned Washington will face consequences for its “illegal” airstrikes on Tehran-backed militias on Sunday which killed 25 fighters, including four commanders.

US forces struck five locations used by Iran-backed militia group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria on Sunday evening, in response to the December 27 rocket attack on K-1 base in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, which houses US soldiers and contractors. The attack killed a US contractor and wounded several American and Iraqi troops. No group claimed responsibility, but Washington blamed the Iran-backed, Shiite militia.

Iraq’s main political blocks condemned the US airstrikes, with the deputy head of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a strong Iranian ally, warning of a “very tough” response to the US aggression.

Iran’s foreign ministry described the US strikes on its strong ally’s weapons storage facilities and command and control locations as “terrorism”.

“These attacks proved the false claim of the US in fighting Daesh… in a way that the United States targeted the forces that have inflicted heavy tolls on the Daesh terrorists in recent years,” ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told reporters on Monday, referring to the Islamic State (ISIS) by its Arabic acronym.

“With these attacks … the US shows its disregard for the independence and sovereignty of countries and must bear responsibility for the consequences of this illegal action.”

In his Sunday evening statement announcing the attacks, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Jonathan Hoffman delineated Kataib Hezbollah (KH)’s “strong linkage” with the Quds Force, the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), from which it has repeatedly received “lethal aid”.

“Iran and their KH proxy forces must cease their attacks on US and coalition forces, and respect Iraq's sovereignty, to prevent additional defensive actions by US forces,” Hoffman said in the statement.

Accusing Iran of meddling in Middle Eastern affairs, the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018. It re-imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran six months later, in a bid to force an end to its support for militia groups across the region.

Iran, on the other hand, accuses the US of meddling in Iraq and Syria’s internal affairs, and says tension in the region is mainly due to the presence of a large number of US military personnel.

The US attack on the PMF, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias and a semi-state actor, could usher in more instability for Iraq as the government in turmoil faces relentless street protests. The country’s political class has been demonized by protesters, over 500 of whom have died at the hands of the security forces - including elements of the PMF.

Gulf countries are divided over how to respond to Iran, believed to be behind attacks on several vessels in the Sea of Oman this summer, and the September drone attacks on Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

While most Gulf countries have so far refrained from publicly expressing their views on Sunday’s strikes, Bahrain, a naval and military ally of the US, has lauded “the strategic role of the United States of America in combatting terrorist groups in the region.”

“The Kingdom of Bahrain expresses support for the strikes conducted by the United States of America, targeting Kata'ib Hizbollah (KH) facilities in the Republic of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, as a response to KH repeated terrorist attacks,” the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement published on its website.

American forces and the PMF fought ISIS from 2014 until its territorial demise in Iraq in late 2017. However, escalating regional tensions between Tehran and Washington has seen the number of attacks on bases hosting US personnel increase.

Increased attacks on these bases follow a series of mysterious strikes on PMF ammunition depots across Iraq in August, blamed by the militia on Israel and the US.

At the time of the depot strikes, Muhandis said the PMF, officially recognized as part of Iraq’s armed forces, would use “all means at its disposal to deter and prevent such attacks on our positions.”

The branch of US Central Command responsible for the Middle East subsequently warned that Iranian backed forces in Syria might “look to target US military personnel or its partner forces in Syria, if they view the US as complicit in Israeli strikes on its forces in Syria.”

With at least 11 rocket attacks on Iraqi bases housing US personnel in the last two months, Washington has expressed alarm at the increasing rate of attacks on Iraqi bases housing US personnel.

Defense secretary Mark Esper warned Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi on December 16 that the US would reserve the right of self-defense if the attacks continued.

“We need their help in terms of getting the security situation under control and stabilized, but we also still retain our right of self-defense and we will exercise it,” Esper told reporters.

After a briefing with President Trump on Sunday’s airstrike, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated intolerance of Iran-backed aggression towards American personnel.

"We will not stand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to take actions that put American men and women in jeopardy," Pompeo said.

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