The Defense Department pointed the finger at Iran on Friday for recent rocket attacks in Iraq that endangered American service members and diplomats, while defending the Biden administration’s delay in first identifying the responsible Tehran-backed militant groups.
“We make no apologies for the fact that we took the time, and we allowed our Iraqi partners to take the time to get this right,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told the Washington Examiner during a press briefing.
President Biden waited 10 days to act after a rocket attack against a military base in Erbil killed an American military contractor and wounded a service member.
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The Thursday attack involved two F-15 strikes that destroyed nine buildings on the Syrian border used by the militant groups Kait’ib Hezbollah and Kait’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada to facilitate attacks inside Iraq, the spokesman said.
“I won’t speak for what the previous administration did or the speed with which they acted,” Kirby said. “What I can speak for is this administration, and this administration took these attacks very seriously.”
Kirby described the sites as “known” and said the military action was “defensive” in nature.
He also said that Iran itself bore ultimate responsibility for the Erbil attack and a Green Zone attack Monday near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
“We have been very clear since the beginning about our concerns over what Iran has been doing in the region and their malign activities,” he said. “To include their support for these militia groups who continue to attack our interests and our people.”
Speaking to reporters traveling with Biden to Texas on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the attack sent an “unambiguous message” to Iran that “he’s going to act to protect Americans.”
“When threats are posed, he has the right to take an action at the time and in the manner of his choosing,” Psaki said. “He also is going to take those actions in a manner that’s deliberative, and that has the objective of deescalating activity in both Syria and Iraq.”
Earlier in the week, the Pentagon indicated to the Washington Examiner that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would part from Trump administration practice of immediately blaming Iran when he opted to allow the Iraqi government to conduct an investigation first.
Kirby also said waiting to lay blame on Iran was not tied to the Biden administration’s hope to restart nuclear talks and reenter the Iran nuclear deal.
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“This has nothing to do with any diplomatic efforts that may or may not be happening,” Kirby told the Washington Examiner Tuesday. “It has to do with trying to make sure we judge accountability the right way, and that’s what the secretary wants to give our Iraqi partners the time and space to do.”
On Friday, the Pentagon said intelligence from Iraqi and Kurdish partners was used to assign blame to the Iranian-backed militant groups, but the partners were not involved in the target selection on the Syrian side of the border.
