ZCZC
BFF-12
IRAQ-POLITICS-PROTESTS-LEAD
Trump threatens Iran after Baghdad embassy attacked
BAGHDAD, Jan 1, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump warned Tehran it
would “pay a very big price” after a mob of pro-Iranian demonstrators stormed
the American embassy compound in Iraq, as his government said it is sending
hundreds more troops to the Middle East.
Angered by US air strikes that killed two dozen paramilitary fighters on
Sunday, hundreds of protesters spilled through checkpoints in the high-
security Green Zone Tuesday, demanding the removal of American troops from
Iraq and voicing loyalty to a powerful Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani of
the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the attack was “orchestrated by
terrorists,” one of whom he named as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Muhandis has been identified as second-in-command of the Tehran-backed
Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group which includes Kataeb Hezbollah, the
group that was targeted in the US air strikes.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said around 750 troops from a rapid response
unit of the 82nd Airborne Division are prepared to deploy over the next
several days to the region.
“This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in
response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such
as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” he said.
Prior to the announcement, a US official told AFP that “up to 4,000
(troops) may ultimately be deployed”.
The US had already flown a rapid response team of Marines into Baghdad to
reinforce its embassy after the attack Tuesday, which left smoke and flames
rising from the embassy entrance and further heightened tension between
Tehran and Washington.
Esper’s announcement is the latest move by Washington to step up its
defences in the region since US President Donald Trump in May 2018 pulled out
of a multinational nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed crippling economic
sanctions.
Trump blamed Tehran for the embassy attack and warned that it would face
punishment if Americans are killed.
“Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at
any of our facilities,” Trump said on Twitter.
“They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat,”
wrote Trump, adding “Happy New Year!”
However, Trump later told reporters that he did not foresee war with
Tehran. – Surprise, fury –
Trump’s message came at the end of a day in which Washington officials
appeared surprised and furious over the ease at which the protestors entered
the Green Zone, reaching the US embassy compound for the first time in years.
Live broadcasts showed the protesters battering down the high-security
doors of the embassy reception building, smashing windows, burning a sentry
box and chanting “Death to America!”
The State Department and Pentagon demanded Iraq’s leaders provide security
to the compound — which was already heavily fortified.
By the time a contingent of US Marine reinforcements flew in, some of the
demonstrators had pulled back and others settled in for a sustained protest,
preparing food for the evening.
Tehran said the United States is itself to blame for air strikes that
killed about two dozen Kataeb Hezbollah fighters on Sunday.
“The surprising audacity of American officials is so much that after
killing at least 25… and violating the country’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity, that now… they attribute the Iraqi people’s protest
against their cruel acts to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said foreign
ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi. – ‘Strategic patience’ –
The mob attack put a focus on the strains in the US-Iraqi relationship.
Allies of Iran, which enjoys significant support in parts of the Iraqi
government, increasingly challenge Washington’s influence in the country.
US jet fighters on Sunday struck five Kateab Hezbollah outposts in Iraq and
Syria after a series of rocket attacks on US-occupied facilities in Iraq over
the past two months that are blamed on the group and its alleged Iranian
sponsors.
One of those attacks, in Kirkuk on Friday, left an American civilian
contractor dead and exhausted what US officials called Trump’s “strategic
patience” with Tehran. – ‘First lesson’ to US –
It also added to the growing calls by some political factions in Iraq to
push US troops out of the country nearly 17 years after they entered and
overthrew Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The protesters who besieged the US embassy on Tuesday carried posters
reading: “Parliament should oust US troops, or else we will!”
Late Tuesday Kataeb Hezbollah hailed the attack as a “first lesson” to
Washington, “so that Trump knows he did something extremely stupid”.
US officials said there were no plans to evacuate the mission, and no US
personnel were reported injured. Ambassador Matthew Tueller, who had been on
holiday, was on his way back to the embassy.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1126 hrs