The U.S. State Department stated on Thursday (April 9th) that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met with the Iraqi Ambassador. On Wednesday (8th), it was believed that an Iran-backed militia group used drones to attack a key U.S. diplomatic facility in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
The State Department said Landau expressed strong condemnation from the U.S. government to Nizar Khirullah, the Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S., for the heinous and terroristic attacks carried out by Iranian-supported militia groups from within Iraq against U.S. diplomats and facilities, including the ambush of U.S. diplomats in Baghdad on Wednesday.
The statement also mentioned that in the weeks prior, there had been hundreds of attacks by the militia group in Iraq targeting U.S. citizens, diplomatic facilities, commercial interests, as well as attacks on neighboring countries of Iraq, Iraqi institutions, and civilians.
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad stated that an Iraqi “terrorist militia” group allegedly aligned with Iran launched multiple drone attacks on Wednesday near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport. Over the past weeks to months, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and related diplomatic facilities have been repeatedly targeted with rocket, missile, and drone attacks, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems. The Wednesday incident was specifically labeled as an “ambush/assassination attempt” targeting U.S. diplomats.
The U.S. State Department affirmed the work done by Iraqi security forces in response to the attacks but stressed that the Iraqi government had failed to prevent these attacks. It was pointed out that “some forces associated with the Iraqi government continue to provide political, economic, and operational support to the militia group, which severely undermines bilateral relations.”
The Deputy Secretary emphasized that the U.S. will not tolerate any attacks against its interests and expects the Iraqi government to take immediate action to dismantle the Iran-aligned militia groups within Iraq completely.