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The United States and Iraq issued a warning to Iran and the militias that support it, and promised a swift response to any attacks on US diplomats or military forces, according to the “Wall Street Journal.”
The warning came as the first anniversary of the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani came close to an attack with a US drone near the Baghdad airport.
“No one should reduce our ability to defend our forces or act decisively in response to any attack,” US military commander in the Middle East Frank McKinsey said Wednesday.
After attacking the US embassy with a group of missiles, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi sent a delegation to Tehran on Sunday, the newspaper quoted Iraqi MP Amer Al-Fayez as saying.
And the Iraqi delegation carried a message that warned Tehran that Washington would hold Tehran responsible for any attack on its interests.
There has been a recent increase in calls for Iranian-backed militias to commit acts of violence against Americans.
According to the newspaper, an Iraqi news group loyal to Iran published on Thursday a photo of the US embassy with the caption “Always remember that I can see what you are doing.”
Iranian Quds Force commander Ismail Qaani led a group of orders to militias loyal to Tehran in Iraq, during his latest unannounced visit to Baghdad last week, according to sources familiar with the visit, at a time when the Observers saw that Qassem Soleimani’s successor is trying to control the pace of Tehran’s supporters in Iraq during the next leg.
A political source familiar with the details of Qaani’s visit told Al-Hurra that the Iranian official met in Baghdad with leaders of four militias in Baghdad and asked them to prepare for attacks against American interests in Iraq if Iran was to a target of the United States.
The four leaders who sat down with Qaani, according to the source, are the leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Qais Khazali, the general secretary of the Imam Ali Brigades, Shebel al-Zaidi, the leader of the Hezbollah Brigades, Ahmad al -Hamidawi, and the leader of the Nujaba militia, Akram al-Kaabi American, all of them are on the terrorism list.
A political source within the Popular Mobilization Authority, which includes factions loyal to Tehran, confirmed to Al-Hurra that the aforementioned militias five days ago emptied their headquarters in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq, in anticipation of possible US attacks.
Qaani’s visit to Iraq coincided with the most violent attack in 10 years, which had targeted the US embassy in Baghdad with some 21 Katyusha rockets, but caused no casualties.
