Trump claims US-Strikes against pro-Iran militias in Iraq were coordinated with Baghdad
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump claims US-Strikes against pro-Iran militias in Iraq were coordinated with Baghdad")
US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)
Trump said US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq were coordinated with Baghdad, while warning Iran of retaliation and defending the action despite Iraq calling it a sovereignty violation.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Jul 29) said that joint US-Saudi strikes against Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq were coordinated with the Iraqi government. This comes after the US Central Command and Saudi military launched strikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. Trump’s remarks come despite Iraq’s presidency condemning the US-Saudi strikes, which it called a violation of its sovereignty.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump claimed that he had coordinated with the Iraqi government about the overnight strikes. He said that militias were a “cancer on the world”, adding that additional warnings against Iranian proxies were under consideration.
Trump warns Iran
Trump also warned Iran after US troops intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile attack in Jordan.
“We're going to beat the f****** s*** out of them,” Trump told Fox News. “We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”
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US-Saudi joint strikes
On Tuesday (Jul 28), US Central Command (CENTCOM) and Saudi military launched strikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. CENTCOM said that the attack was carried out in response to more than 30 drone attacks on US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure, which the US military claimed were conducted by Iran-aligned groups on the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In a statement, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or Hashed al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary alliance now integrated into the country’s security forces, said that at least 20 members “were martyred and another 32 wounded according to a preliminary toll.”
The PMF condemned the strikes as a “dangerous escalation” and accused Washington and Riyadh of violating Iraq’s sovereignty by targeting what it described as official security institutions.
The alliance was formed in 2014 to fight jihadists and was later integrated into Iraq’s armed forces. However, several Iran-backed factions within the PMF have continued to operate independently and have been accused of carrying out attacks against US interests in the region.
Pro-Iran militias in Iran
The strikes come amid rising tensions in the Middle East, where Iraq has often found itself caught between its two major allies – Washington and Tehran. Iran-backed armed groups have previously claimed hundreds of attacks on US bases in Iraq and across the region.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who assumed office this year with US support, has pledged to bring pro-Iran armed factions under greater state control and push for weapons to be handed over. However, the move has faced resistance from powerful groups within the country.
The Iraqi PM also called off a planned Thursday meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah after the strikes, Reuters reported.
