SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iran-backed militias plan to attack the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on the anniversary of killing top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Iraqi media cited intelligence sources as saying on Thursday.
Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad international airport on January 3, 2020.
Soleimani headed an elite overseas unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, while Muhandis commanded Hashid al-Shaabi paramilitary network in Iraq.
The directorate of intelligence had received “confirmed information indicating the intention of outlaw elements to target the U.S. embassy at the same time as the U.S. strike targeted Soleimani and al-Muhandis”, intelligence sources told Shafaq News.
Al-Arabiya channel reported that a security document of the Iraqi intelligence revealed the “existence of a plot by pro-Iranian militias to target the U.S. embassy with missiles” in retaliation of the assassination of Soleimani and al-Muhandis.
“The document recommended intensifying security efforts in Baghdad and conducting thorough searches in the Palestine Street area, where armed militias loyal to Iran are present,” Al-Arabia said.
The United States had accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on U.S. forces in the region.
Days after the U.S. drone strike, Iran retaliated with a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base where U.S. forces were stationed, and Iranian forces on high alert mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner taking off from Tehran.
