ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US officials say Iran has capitalized on the ongoing unrest in neighbouring Iraq to move short-range ballistic missiles into the country in a further attempt to expand its regional influence.
First reported by the New York Times, intelligence gathered by US officials and the Pentagon over recent months suggests Iran is trying to “intimidate” other Middle Eastern powers.
Specific details about the missiles are unknown, but there is concern they could target Israel, Saudi Arabia, and US forces stationed in the Middle East, intelligence officials told the outlet.
Despite withdrawing from northeast Syria in early October, the United States has upped its presence in other areas of the Middle East to counter the rising sway of Tehran.
The US announced the deployment of 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia shortly after the abrupt withdrawal of US troops in northern Syria caused a crisis in the Kurdish-held region.
Brian Hook, the State Department’s Special Representative for Iran, said the troop deployment was a “defense” tactic aimed at protecting US interests and Saudi Arabia.
Iran is suspected of being behind a variety of attacks on Saudi oil facilities in October.
However, claims of plans to deploy up to 14,000 extra troops to the region have been refuted by a government spokesperson.
The NYT said Iran’s military movements in Iraq demonstrate US failures to counter Tehran’s growing influence through military might.
“Iran’s stockpiling of missiles in Iraq is the latest sign that the Trump administration’s efforts to deter Tehran by increasing the American military presence in the Middle East has largely failed,” the paper claimed.
The allegations come amid seething anger in Iraq at perceived Iranian influence in the country as it is rocked by demonstrations, in which hundreds of civilians have been killed.
Iranian consulates in the cities of Karbala and Najaf have been torched in recent weeks, and posters of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini defaced.
Iran itself has also seen widespread protests in response to the government’s decision to raise the price of fuel.
As in Iraq, those taking to the streets have been met with brutal force.
Amnesty International estimates more than 200 people have died in a “horrific killing spree,” acknowledged by Iranian state TV for the first time on Tuesday.
Iran has come under increasing international scrutiny in recent months due to its repeated violations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – an agreement signed in 2015 designed to curb Iranian nuclear ambitions in returning for the loosening of sanctions which have squeezed the country’s economy.
The US withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and has since hit Iran with a series of debilitating sanctions.
Numerous steps have been taken in breach of the deal, including decisions to enrich uranium at Fordow nuclear facility – explicitly banned under the JCPOA.
An open-letter from EU officials on Wednesday slammed Iranian disobedience in a letter to the UN.
Addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, French, German, and British representatives called on the UN chief to out Iran’s recent actions as “inconsistent” with a resolution passed on the deal four years ago.
The letter reportedly called on Tehran to cease “any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”
