Blinken tells UN: US doesn't want war with Iran but will defend itself
ReutersOct 24, 2023
After dozens of recent attacks against its troops in Iraq, the US carried out two series of strikes against Iranian-backed militant groups, according to US officials. Because of the tenuous political situation in Iraq, the US has been reluctant to retaliate until this week.
An anonymous US defense official stated that the aircraft strike targeted and destroyed a Kataeb Hezbollah operations center as well as a Command and Control node in Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad.
President Biden has made it clear that the United States does not want the Middle East conflict to escalate or wish to seek conflict with Iran, but will not hesitate to act swiftly and decisively should Iran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere. Since mid-October, there have been multiple attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria. The US is now responding in kind.
In a blatant breach of Iraqi sovereignty, the United States attacked Iranian-backed militias without notifying the Iraqi authorities. The action is equally condemnable to the Iranian-backed militias fighting US troops in Iraq, because the national interest of Iraq is violated by any armed operation or activity that takes place outside of its military institutions. These activities must end.
There is a 10% chance that the US and Iran will be primary actors on opposite sides of war before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.