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President Biden’s decision to order air strikes targeting facilities near the Iraq-Syria border used by Iran-backed armed groups was a clear warning to Tehran as the administration continues to negotiate the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Lawrence J. said: Korb, a senior fellow at the Fund for American Progress and a former assistant secretary of defense, said in an interview that the air strikes – carried out by the bombers – were essentially Biden’s “notice” to Tehran.
“The first time he used military force was about a month after his inauguration,” Korb told Al Jazeera. “I think it was no coincidence that he did it at the time to send that signal to Iran. The fact that he is doing so now as they are about to undergo the seventh round of talks on the JCPOA. [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] Does he say: “Just because we’re there, it doesn’t mean we’ll be ignored [these other problems]. “
Senate criticizes strikes
On Sunday, John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the air strikes targeted facilities used by Iran-backed militias that have used those facilities as a staging ground for attacks on US forces in Iraq. He described the strikes as “a necessary, appropriate and deliberate measure to reduce the risk of escalation.”
He said the strikes had already sent an “unmistakable deterrent message”.
The Iraqi government condemned the air strikes on the paramilitary groups’ sites and described them as “a flagrant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” according to a statement.
A US defense official familiar with the strikes told Fox News that US Air Force F-15s and F-16s were used in the operation. The strikes occurred at about 6 p.m. ET, or 1 a.m. local time.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that the strikes appeared to be a “targeted and proportionate response to a serious and specific threat.” Reports stated that these militias have become more sophisticated and capable of carrying out large-scale, remote-controlled drone attacks on US forces in Iraq.
The BBC, citing the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that five militia fighters were killed in the strikes. The Wall Street Journal, citing a news agency in Iraq that supports militias allied with Iran, reported that four of the dead were members of the paramilitary forces. The official Syrian news agency, Sana, reported the death of a child and the injury of three others.
Senator Chris Murphy, D. said. Connecticut, in a statement late Sunday that he hoped to be briefed on President Biden-approved airstrikes against three facilities conducted without congressional approval.
Murphy, who also expressed concern about February’s strikes in the region, said the president has the ability to defend forces abroad, but his concern is that “the pace of activity directed against US forces and frequent retaliatory strikes against forces loyal to Iran has begun to look like what can be described as as a pattern of hostilities under the War Powers Act.”
The air strikes are the latest operation carried out against Iran-backed military groups, following Biden’s first known military action in February, when an air strike targeted a compound in Syria run by Kataib Hezbollah and Kite’ab Sayyid al-Shuhada.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that Iran’s next president, Ebrahim Raisi, has flatly rejected Biden’s main goal of expanding the nuclear deal and is expected to raise demands from Tehran for sanctions relief in exchange for compliance.
Karim Sadjapour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has advised several US administrations on Iran, told the AP that he does not “envy the Biden team.”
“I think the administration now has a growing sense of the need to review the deal before my boss and install a new hard-line team,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email hours later from Fox News.
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An Iranian judge with ultra-conservative views – who has already been punished by the US – will be inaugurated in August.
Lucas Y Tomlinson of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report
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