Tehran is arming Iraqi factions with rallies to pressure Washington to ease sanctions

The New York Times (The New Yourk Timmes) quoted US officials that Iran's proxies in Iraq threaten the United States with highly advanced weapons there.

They added that Tehran is using armed factions in Iraq to pressure Washington and other world powers to negotiate sanctions relief.

The officials told the newspaper that the failure of any parties to claim strikes that targeted military bases where American soldiers are located, using drones, is an indication that Iran is behind them.

The New York Times quoted an Iraqi national security official as estimating that Iran's increasing economic suffering as a result of the sanctions is increasing the frequency of drone attacks in Iraq.

In the past two months, drones loaded with explosives have been used at least three times in late-night attacks on military bases where Americans are located, according to US officials.

Weakened by years of harsh economic sanctions, Iran is "using proxy militias in Iraq" to ramp up pressure on the United States and other world powers to negotiate relief from those sanctions as part of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, the newspaper noted.

Iraqi and US officials say Iran designed the drone attacks to minimize casualties that could prompt US retaliation.

The newspaper recalled a statement by the commander of the US Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, told the Associated Press last month that drones posed a serious threat, and that the army was rushing to devise ways to combat it.

And at the end of last month, The Washington Post reported that US military officials in Iraq were increasingly concerned about attacks by Iranian-backed factions using drones to evade defense systems around military bases and diplomatic facilities.

The newspaper quoted military officials and diplomats as saying that the factions tend to use small drones that fly at a height that is too low for the defense systems to catch them.

And it confirmed, quoting an official in the coalition, that the threat of drones has become the biggest concern for the coalition forces in Iraq.