SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States and Iraq have warned Iran and Iranian-backed militias that any attack on American diplomats or military personnel would be met with swift retaliation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday (January 1).
In recent days there has been increased concern and vigilance about what Iranian-backed forces might do in the lead up to the anniversary of a Jan. 3 U.S. drone strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, according to a U.S. official.
“No one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack,” Wall Street Journal cited top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, Gen. Frank McKenzie, as saying.
The Journal said a pro-Iranian Iraqi news group on the messaging service Telegram published a picture of the U.S. Embassy on Thursday, captioned: “Remember always I can see what you are doing.”
NBC News cited a U.S. official as saying on Friday that the United States had seen increasing indirections that Iran could be planning an attack against American forces or interests in the Middle East.
The official further said that reading Iran’s intensions was “difficult and at times unpredictable”, adding that the indications were being taken seriously.
Esmail Ghaani who succeeded Soleimani as head of the elite Quds Force said on Friday that Iran was still ready to respond.
“From inside your own house, there may emerge someone who will retaliate for your crime,” he said at a televised event to mark the anniversary at Tehran University.
“American mischief will not deter the Quds force from carrying on its resistance path,” he added.
Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller told NBC News in a statement late Thursday that the United States continue to “watch Iran very closely”.
“While it is my hope that we enter 2021 peacefully and without conflict, the Department is at the ready to defend the American people and her interests,” he said.
Two U.S. B-52 bombers flew over the Middle East on December 30 in what U.S. officials said was a message of deterrence to Iran ahead of the first anniversary.
On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused U.S. President Donald Trump of attempting to fabricate a pretext to attack Iran, and said Tehran would defend itself forcefully.
Representatives of Iran’s regional allies and movements in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Gaza also spoke at Friday’s anniversary event.
