Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden for the Iraqi militia attack that killed three U.S. service members and wounded more than two dozen others.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the former president offered condolences to the families of the service members killed before diverting his attention to his political rival.
“This brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender,” Trump wrote. He also asked “all Americans to join me in praying for those who have been wounded.”
The Iranian-supported militia launched a drone strike on Sunday on a small U.S. outpost known as Tower 22 in Jordan near the Syrian border, where the service members were killed or injured. Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin responded similarly, with Austin affirming, “We will respond at a time and place of our choosing.”
Biden has been condemned by Trump, other Republicans, and even some Democrats for many of his foreign policy decisions. Specifically, Trump has criticized his 2020 challenger for his softening of sour relations with Iran, which the Republican blasted Sunday.
“Three years ago, Iran was weak, broke, and totally under control. Thanks to my Maximum Pressure policy, the Iranian Regime could barely scrape two dollars together to fund their terrorist proxies. Then Joe Biden came in and gave Iran billions of dollars, which the Regime has used to spread bloodshed and carnage throughout the Middle East,” Trump wrote in a statement that expanded upon his Truth Social post.
The “billions of dollars” the former president mentioned were likely a reference to the Biden administration’s $6 billion deal with Iran to free U.S. prisoners. The White House has repeatedly defended the deal by saying the unfrozen funds cannot be used for nefarious purposes as they are still under restrictions and only available for a limited number of humanitarian transactions.
Trump then made a claim he has said repeatedly during his time on the campaign trail: that deadly global conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, the war between Israel and Hamas, and this attack, “would NEVER have happened” if he were president, that there would be “peace throughout the World. Instead, we are on the brink of World War 3.”
Dozens of U.S. service members were killed in the Middle East, mostly in Afghanistan, during Trump’s time in office despite the former president’s claims.
Militias in the Middle East have carried out more than 150 missile and drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria dating back to mid-October 2023, which closely coincided with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel. Dozens of U.S. troops have been injured in these attacks, while the U.S. military has infrequently responded with airstrikes, most often targeting their infrastructure.
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“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the deaths of three of our U.S. service members and the wounding of other American troops in an attack last night against U.S. and Coalition forces, who were deployed to a site in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border to work for the lasting defeat of ISIS,” Austin added in his statement. “These brave Americans and their families are in my prayers, and the entire Department of Defense mourns their loss.”
The Iraqi militias are one of Iran’s proxies it supports throughout the Middle East, many of which are disrupting U.S. interests in the region. Aside from Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen have been perhaps the most notable proxy recently, attacking U.S. ships and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
