The threat from Iranian-backed militia to US forces continues to be “significant,” the US State Department’s senior diplomat for the Middle East said on Thursday, adding that Washington was taking “with a pinch of salt” a ceasefire declaration by Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah.
Speaking to reporters in a teleconference, David Schenker, Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department also praised the previous work of Mustafa al-Kadhemi, Iraq’s intelligence chief who was named as prime-minister designate on Thursday.
David Schenker, Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department, speaks to Al Arabiya during a previous interview.
On Monday, three Katyushka rockets landed near a district in southern Iraq that houses workers for foreign oil companies, including US oil service company Halliburton. No casualties or damage were reported.
Last week, Trump said Iran or its proxies planned a sneak attack on US targets in Iraq, and warned they would pay a “very heavy price” but gave no details.
US-Iranian relations have been bitter since the Islamic Revolution toppled the US-backed shah of Iran in 1979 and ushered in an era of theocratic rule.
While there was a detente with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, relations have deteriorated with Trump’s decision nearly two years ago to abandon that multilateral agreement and reimpose US sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
A member of Hashd al-Shaabi holds a flag of Kataib Hezbollah militia group during a protest to condemn air strikes on their bases, in Baghdad. (File photo: Reuters)
