U.S. to hold Tehran responsible for “proxy” attacks in Iraq
In August the US State Department rolled out a new Iran Action Group
that is designed to put pressure on Tehran and coordinate actions across
the US government.
The White House warned Iran against attacks by its proxies in Iraq on
Tuesday. The statement is a major departure from previous US policy in
Iraq. For example, the US was not confrontational with the numerous
Iranian-backed Shia militias operating in the country. Now Washington
says it will hold Tehran accountable for any attack that results in
injury to US forces or even damage to US government facilities. The
statement comes in response to threats to the US consulate in Basra.
In August the US State Department rolled out a new Iran Action Group
that is designed to put pressure on Tehran and coordinate actions across
the US government. This coincided with US President Donald Trump
signing the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that singled out
Iran in numerous places.
Iran has been openly supporting a plethora of militias in Iraq since
Tehran began to operate more openly among Shi’ites in Iraq following the
US-led 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Groups such as the
Badr Organization and Kata’ib Hezbollah are run by Iraqis who served
alongside the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the
1980s fighting against Saddam Hussein. During the war on Islamic State
Iranian-backed militias expanded their power in Iraq, helping to defeat
ISIS. This put them on the same side as the US-led Coalition. Called the
Popular Mobilization Forces or Hashd al-Shaabi, their numbers grew to
almost 100,000 men under arms. However their deepening influence in
Baghdad concerned Washington. In 2016 parliament in Iraq allowed the
Iranian-backed militias to become an official paramilitary force. Former
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the militias to “go home.”
However current Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told Tillerson last
year that the Iranian-backed groups were the “hope” of Iraq and the
region.
In the May 2018 elections in Iraq these militias ran their own party in
the elections, called the Fateh Alliance. It came in second place. Since
then the US has sought to bolster its allies and deny the
Iranian-backed parties control of Baghdad. The recent protests in Basra
have become part of these tensions between those in Iraq who want to be
free of Iran’s overbearing influence and those who are close to Tehran.
Protesters burned the Iranian consulate last week and targeted the
headquarters of the Iranian-backed militias, including Badr and Kata’ib
Hezbollah. Rockets were then fired at the US consulate.
The US statement holding Iran responsible for the attacks in Basra
represents a major change in US policy. US officials reported in the
spring of 2018 that “Iranian support for certain PMF militias posed the
greatest threat to the safety of US personnel in Iraq,” according to a
Department of Defense Inspector General Report in May. The White House
now says that “Iran did not act to stop these attacks [on September 7]
by its proxies in Iraq, which it has supported with funding, training
and weapons.”
However the PMF have been incorporated into the Iraqi Security Forces,
which means that their training and funding also comes from Baghdad. How
to disentangle Baghdad from its alliance with Washington and its
support of militias that threaten the US is now a major challenge for
the Trump administration. US Vice-President Mike Pence also condemned
the IRGC on Monday for a missile attack on Kurdish opposition groups in
northern Iraq. He called the attack an “effort to threaten and
destabilize [Iran’s] closest neighbor.” Taken alongside the White House
condemnation of Iranian proxies, the US is constructing a new policy in
Iraq to confront Iran’s role in the country.
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