Five Americans were injured and the United States claims to be assessing who is responsible.
The Biden government said it was still assessing who was responsible for a rocket attack that wounded five Americans and killed a foreign contractor who worked for the United States in Iraq.
But it reserves “the right to respond at the time and place of our choice,” according to the White House and the State Department, amid questions about Iran’s role in another attack on US forces in its neighboring country.
Similar attacks during the term of former President Donald Trump led him to order the attack that killed Iran’s top military commander and brought the region to the brink of war just over a year ago – making the attack another major test of foreign policy on President Joe Biden’s first days test in office.
Fourteen rockets were fired at Erbil Air Force Base in the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Monday night, with three striking the facilities where US troops are based, according to Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the United States. of the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State.
A non-American civilian contractor was killed and nine others were injured, including a US military and four US civilian contractors, Marotto said on Tuesday.
“The government reserves the right to respond at the time and in the manner of our choice, but we will wait for the assignment to be completed before we take any further action,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
A little-known Iraqi militia group that calls itself Guardians of the Blood Brigade claimed credit for the attack. These Shiite militias have ties to Iran, the region’s largest Shiite power, although it is sometimes unclear how much control the Iranian government has over its actions.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the government was aware of the claim, but would not “base our conclusions solely and exclusively on the allegations of a particular group”. Instead, US intelligence is investigating the attack and American officials are working with their Iraqi and Kurdish colleagues, he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Tuesday and Masrour Barzani on Monday night, the prime minister of the Kurdish regional government.
Notably, Price said on Tuesday that any US response would be “in coordination with our Iraqi partners”, calling it “an issue of Iraqi sovereignty” – a break with the Trump administration.
In retaliation for an Iran-backed militia killing a U.S. contractor in December 2019, Trump ordered the drone attack that killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general, and an Iraqi militia leader near Baghdad airport. His government did not consult the Iraqi government in advance, amid concerns that it would leak to Soleimani, prompting protests and culminating in the non-binding vote of the majority in the Iraqi parliament last year to expel American troops.
Biden and Blinken appear to be intent on restoring US ties to the Iraqi government. Asked about the responses to Monday’s attack, Psaki said diplomacy would be “the front and center of our engagement with our global partners around the world.” Likewise, Price rejected questions about a red line or retaliatory attacks, saying it was “premature to speak in specific terms about retaliation”.
A senior Defense Department official also shied away from questions about the US response, telling reporters that “people are studying the events that happened in Iraq in the past 24 hours a lot” and “are closely examining the situation and what makes sense in a US policy perspective. “
But some critics say any smooth line will only encourage Iran to use its powers of attorney against the United States, especially before possible negotiations on its nuclear program and more.
“Iran and its representatives are testing the seriousness of the new Biden government while making other regional gains,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a more hawkish Washington think tank. “Cross-domain escalation has always been the name of the game for Tehran, whether by the Houthis, militias in Iraq or in the nuclear archive at home.”
Molly Nagle of ABC News contributed to this report from the White House and Matt Seyler from the Pentagon.