Iraqi security sources in Baghdad told CNN that they were investigating the claim of the civilian force. Iran denies involvement.
“As always, the President of the United States and the Government reserve the right to respond to the time and manner in which we have chosen, but we will wait until the award is finalized before taking any further action,” Psaki said. said. reporters Tuesday in the White House.
One civilian contractor was killed and a U.S. service member and several U.S. contractors were injured when the rocket landed on coalition forces. The attack could complicate the Biden government’s stated plans to return to the nuclear deal in Iran, as long as Tehran complies with the treaty again.
‘Blood Brigade’
An Iranian-backed Shia militant group called ‘The Guardians of the Blood Brigade’ claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement but did not provide any evidence of its role in the incident.
“The US occupation will not be safe for our strikes in any centimeter of the homeland, and even in Kurdistan, where we promise to carry out other qualitative operations,” the group said in a statement. In August, the group claimed responsibility for other small-scale attacks on US troops in areas near Baghdad and northern Iraq.
Asked about possible Iranian responsibility, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States “is not going to pursue the ongoing investigation. We take it incredibly seriously. We support our Iraqi partners in their efforts to investigate these attacks, whether they were led by Iran or Iran-backed forces.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Tuesday denied any links to Monday’s attacks in Erbil. “Although these rumors are strongly rejected, the dubious attempt to attribute them to Iran is also strongly condemned,” Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by the Iranian official Mehr news agency.
Investigators
U.S. and Iraqi staff members were now at the launch site of the rocket attack, a U.S. official said. Troops found a mobile launcher consisting of a multiple rocket launcher at the rear of the truck, as well as a fixed launcher. They also found six firearms that were not launched.
“By calculating the trajectory of the incoming rockets, the U.S. was able to locate the launch site and have ‘aircraft overhead’ fairly quickly,” the official said. The US immediately showed Iraqi troops to the scene and then sent in its own troops.
The U.S. military is looking into the launchers and rockets to see what it can learn about the group behind the attack, the official said, adding that the U.S. will follow the standard process to evaluate the evidence and then decide how to proceed. to go.
Psaki expressed sympathy with the slain contractor and noted calls between U.S. Secretary of State and Defense and Iraqi and Kurdish officials. She said the administration would make diplomacy a “priority” because it formulates an answer.
Tuesday’s expression of indignation echoed Foreign Minister Antony Blinken’s statement on the attack Monday night. Blinken used the statement to express sympathy for “the innocent Iraqi people and their families who are suffering from these ruthless acts of violence”.
He spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani on Monday and to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi on Tuesday morning, according to the Foreign Ministry.
In a reading of Blinken’s call with Kadhimi, the Foreign Ministry said: ‘The secretary discussed his call with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, and encouraged Prime Minister Kadhimi to continue working closely with working with the regional government to address violent extremists. going on to identify and hold accountable the groups responsible for yesterday’s attacks, as well as the Iraqi government’s responsibility and commitment to protect the US and coalition personnel in Iraq at the invitation of the government to fight ISIS.
CNN’s Michael Conte, Nicholas Neville, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Muwafaq Mohammed contributed to this report.