Zarif dismisses Trump tweet that Iran was behind attack on US Embassy in Baghdad

Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday dismissed US President Donald Trump’s allegations that Tehran was behind the recent rocket attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad, reported Reuters.

“Putting your own citizens at risk abroad won’t divert attention from catastrophic failures at home,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Trump said on Wednesday the rockets that landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday, targeting the US Embassy, were from Iran and “we hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq”.

“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over,” Trump said in a Twitter post.

In another tweet, Zarif said: “Last time, the US ruined our region over WMD (weapons of mass destruction) fabrications, wasting $7 TRILLION & causing 58,976 American casualties” – a reference to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

In his tweet, Zarif added:

Trump will bear full responsibility for any adventurism on his way out.

.@realDonaldTrump uses a worthless photo to recklessly accuse Iran.

Last time, the US ruined our region over WMD fabrications, wasting $7 TRILLION & causing 58,976 American casualties.

FAR WORSE this time. Trump will bear full responsibility for any adventurism on his way out. pic.twitter.com/scCeSwjUmE

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) December 24, 2020

The Iraqi military blamed the rocket strike, which caused minor damage, on an “outlaw group”.

Top US national security officials agreed on Wednesday on a proposed range of options to present to Trump meant to deter any attack on US military or diplomatic personnel in Iraq, a senior administration official told Reuters, without describing the content of the options or say whether they included military action.

Read: Iraq Shia militias to investigate attacks on US embassy in Green Zone

Rockets have been fired at Baghdad’s international zone and the US embassy throughout the year, leading the US to warn the Iraqi government to prevent the attacks or risk having the embassy and diplomatic mission removed from the country.

The US government then drew up a list of 80 sites used by the PMF’s militias that it planned to strike if the attacks continued, after which the militias agreed in October on a “conditional ceasefire” to halt their attacks if the Iraqi government presented a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from the country.

Then last month, despite the US administration of President Donald Trump announcing the further withdrawal of thousands more US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by 15 January, its embassy was again targeted.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has long promised to tackle the rampant Iran-backed Shia militias which are influential in the Iraqi armed forces and political parties, and which have conducted numerous assassinations of critics and activists.

Although efforts have been made to limit their influence on the country’s armed forces and society by conducting raids on militia headquarters and arresting several members, many claim that enough is not being done and that the militias are not being adequately confronted.

Opinion: It is time for the Iran-backed axis militias to be treated exactly like Daesh