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Washington said the strikes on positions of the Kataib Hezbollah
(KH) paramilitary group along the Iraq border were in response
to rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
“America’s recent action strengthens and expands the activities
of the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) in the region,” Shamkhani,
the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security council, said
in remarks to visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
“The attack on anti-terrorist resistance forces is the beginning
of a new round of organized terrorism,” the semi-official Nour
News quoted him as saying.
Hussein, on his second visit to Iran in a month, later met with
his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Hussein is in Iran “to discuss regional developments, including
ways to balance relations and avoid tension and escalation” with
Iranian officials, according to an Iraqi foreign ministry
statement.
An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed
one fighter and wounded four. U.S. officials said they were
limited in scope to show President Joe Biden’s administration
will act firmly while trying to avoid a big regional escalation.
Shamkhani said “we will confront the U.S. plan to revive
terrorism in the region”, but did not elaborate.
The air strikes targeted militia sites on the Syrian side of the
Iraqi-Syrian frontier, where groups backed by Iran control an
important crossing for weapons, personnel and goods.
Western officials and some Iraqi officials accuse Iranian-backed
groups of involvement in deadly rocket attacks on U.S. sites and
personnel in Iraq over the last month.
Washington and Tehran are seeking maximum leverage in attempts
to save Iran’s nuclear deal reached with world powers in 2015
but abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, after
which regional tensions soared.
(dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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