With another military strike on the orders of President Joe Biden, the US has increased pressure on Iran and its allies. The American military flew air strikes in the Iraqi-Syrian border region on several targets that were used by pro-Iranian militias, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced on Sunday evening (local time) in Washington. From these facilities, militias supported by Iran launched drone attacks on American facilities in Iraq. There are two targets in Syria and one in Iraq. Weapons were stored there, among other things. The Pentagon spoke of a necessary and appropriate defensive strike.
Kirby said the background was the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups against US targets in Iraq.
President Biden ordered military action to stop further such attacks.
The US acted in accordance with its right to self-defense.
The air strikes are both "necessary to counter the threat" and "appropriate in scope".
The procedure is designed in such a way that it limits the risk of escalation, but at the same time sends out a “deterrent message” clearly and unmistakably.
Biden's first attacks in February
America's military had already carried out air strikes in the east of the civil war country Syria at the end of February.
Numerous supporters of pro-Iranian militias were killed in the process.
It was the first military strike since Biden took office.
The Pentagon had also rated this as a pure “defensive strike” - as a “proportionate” reaction to previous attacks against US soldiers and their international partners in Iraq.
A civilian contractor belonging to the international military coalition had been killed in a missile attack on the northern Iraqi city of Erbil in February.
Several people were injured.
In the past few months there had been further attacks in which rockets were fired at bases in Iraq used by the US Army.
Militias with close ties to Iran have long been suspected.
They are calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, which are supporting the Iraqi army in the fight against the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).
Iraq, but also Syria, have developed into theaters of conflict between the USA and Iran.
In the background it's about the nuclear deal
America's air strikes come at a time when international negotiations are underway over a possible US return to the nuclear deal with Iran. The agreement was concluded in 2015 between Iran and the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and China. Under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed massive sanctions on Iran. In return, Iran gradually no longer adhered to its obligations.
For several weeks now, talks have been going on in Vienna about a return of both countries to the requirements of the nuclear deal. Both Tehran and Washington had recently spoken of progress in the negotiations. However, American negotiators emphasized that there were still “serious differences” and that no agreements had yet been made: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”