President Trump has openly blamed Iran for the attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. This open condemnation is a major escalation between the two countries.
President Trump also promised to hold the Iranian regime responsible for the full attack.
According to Fox News:
President Trump accused Iran of orchestrating the attack at the U.S. Embassy compound in Iraq on Tuesday and vowed to hold the regime “fully responsible.”
Dozens of Iraqi Shiite militia supporters had gained entry to the compound in Baghdad after reportedly smashing down a gate and storming inside. It came amid protests over U.S. airstrikes, though Trump stressed that the strikes were in response to the killing of an American contractor.
Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
The breach at the compound followed an earlier attempt by hundreds of Iraqis. The unrest came as Iraqis held funerals for the 25 fighters from Iran-backed Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah who were killed in U.S. airstrikes earlier this week, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. military said the airstrikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.
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There were no reports of casualties, but the unprecedented breach was one of the worst attacks on the embassy in recent memory. Iraq has long struggled to balance its ties with the U.S. and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government. But the government’s angry reaction to the U.S. airstrikes and its apparent decision not to prevent the protesters from reaching the embassy signaled a sharp deterioration of U.S.-Iraq relations.
The attack on the Embassy is reportedly one of the worst in recent memory and follows a retaliatory strike by the US military on the militia in Iraq.
The Iraqi Prime Minister condemned the US attack but not the slaughter of Iraqi citizens by the militia.
