US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks with Defense Department staff during a visit by US President Joe Biden to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, February 10, 2021.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned those responsible for carrying out the rocket attack last week against an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops.
“The message to those who would make such an attack is that we expect to do what is necessary to defend ourselves,” Austin said in an interview with ABC that aired Sunday.
“We will strike if that is what we think we should do at a time and place we choose. We demand the right to protect our troops,” he said, adding that the US continues to use intelligence Iraqi partners judged.
Defense officials earlier said the attack had the hallmarks of a strike by groups backed by Iran. Iran denies involvement.
Asked whether Iran would view a potential US response as an increase in tensions, the new Pentagon chief and retired four-time military chief reiterated that Washington would do whatever was necessary to protect Americans and American interests in the region. .
‘What they [Iranians] must draw from this again is that we are going to defend our troops and our response will be considerate. “That would be appropriate,” Austin said. “We would hope they would choose to do the right things,” he added.
On Sunday, the U.S. Army’s Central Command, which oversees the wars in the Middle East, carried out its fourth blast to the region.
The show of force mission included two B-52H Stratofortress bombers with planes from Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar at various points to “ward off aggression and assure partners and allies of the U.S. military’s commitment to security in the region.”
Last month, Iran rejected an invitation from world powers that signed the 2015 nuclear deal to discuss the regime’s possible return to the negotiating table, a major setback in Biden’s government’s attempt at the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. , or JCPOA, to revive.
The White House said Biden’s government was disappointed with Iran’s decision to leave the informal assembly, but that it “wanted to act again in meaningful diplomacy to bring about a reciprocal return to compliance with JCPOA commitments.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Tehran, Iran on 21 November 2020 during the National Fighting Council meeting.
Iranian Presidency Handout | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The Biden government had earlier said it wanted to revive the nuclear deal, but would not suspend sanctions until Tehran complied. Tehran has refused to negotiate while US sanctions remain in place.
The 2015 JCPOA, mediated by the Obama administration, lifted sanctions against Iran that paralyzed its economy and cut its oil exports by about half. In exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, Iran has agreed to break away from its nuclear program and open its facilities to extensive international inspections.
The US and its European allies believe that Iran has ambitions to develop a nuclear bomb. Tehran denied the allegations.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump kept a campaign promise and withdrew the United States from the JCPOA, calling it the ‘worst deal ever’. Following Washington’s withdrawal from the important nuclear deal, other signatories to the treaty tried to keep the agreement alive.
Washington’s strained relationship with Tehran has deteriorated several times under the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump speaks during an information session on Hurricane Michael at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, October 10, 2018.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
People gather to protest the US air strike in Iraq that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, who on January 6, 2020 was leading the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Sanaa, Yemen.
Mohammed Hamoud | Andalou Agency | Getty Images
Soleimani’s death led the regime to further reduce compliance with the international nuclear treaty. In January 2020, Iran said it would no longer limit its uranium enrichment capability or nuclear research.
In October, through a snapback process, the United States unilaterally imposed UN sanctions on Tehran, which other members of the UN Security Council had earlier said Washington did not have the authority to carry out because in 2018 they withdrew nuclear power agreement.
A month later, a leading Iranian nuclear scientist was killed near Tehran, prompting the Iranian government to claim that Israel was behind the attack with US support.
A view shows the scene of the attack on which the prominent Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, outside Tehran, Iran, was killed on November 27, 2020.
WANA via Reuters
During the summer of 2019, a series of attacks in the Persian Gulf put the US and Iran on a path to greater confrontation.
In June 2019, U.S. officials said an Iranian surface-to-air missile fired a U.S. military surveillance drone across Hormuz Street. Iran said the plane was over its territory. The strike came a week after the US blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region and after four tankers were attacked in May.
The U.S. struck new sanctions on Iranian military leaders in June for shooting down the drone. The measures also aimed to block Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s financial resources.
Tensions escalated again in September 2019 when the US blamed Iran for strikes in Saudi Arabia on the world’s largest crude processing plant and oil field. The strikes forced the kingdom to suspend half of its production operations.
The event caused the biggest rise in crude prices in decades and renewed concerns about a burgeoning conflict in the Middle East.
The Pentagon described the strikes at Saudi oil facilities as “sophisticated” and represented a “dramatic increase” in tensions in the region.
All the while, Iran maintains that it was not behind the attacks.