Top US official raps Iraq for failing to 'control' Iran-backed 'creatures'
The provocative comments were made as Washington is set to launch attacks in Iraq and Syria against local resistance factions
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf on 1 February chastised Iraq for failing to bring “creatures” like Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah and other factions within the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) “under control.”
“It is first and foremost Iraq’s responsibility to bring these creatures under control,” Leaf stated during an online press briefing on the topic of US policy in West Asia. "They have been nourished and resourced and provided arms by Iran over the years,” Leaf added.
"[Attacks by this] collection of Iran affiliated militias are, first and foremost, an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq,” Leaf claimed. “They are an assault on the sovereignty of the state itself, on the state to have control of arms and for the state to have control of foreign and national security policy,” she stressed, ignoring Baghdad's support for the PMU as an essential part of the nation's security services and the government's criticism of Washington for unilaterally launching attacks on Iraqi soil.
The US official also outlined the White House’s “priorities” for the region during Thursday's briefing, claiming Washington is “seeking to ensure the conflict does not expand.”
“That has been a focus of every bit of our diplomacy since the first days of the conflict,” said Leaf, blaming the current escalation on the “destabilizing actions undertaken by Iran-backed actors across the region.”
Leaf has previously made headlines for threatening Lebanon with no alternative for economic recovery other than a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and saying the total collapse of the country would allow for it “somehow to be rebuilt from the ashes, freed from the curse of Hezbollah.”
The top US official is set to visit the region in the coming days as part of Washington's diplomatic efforts in support of Israel.
Washington is expected to retaliate against “Iran-linked” targets in Iraq and Syria this weekend as a response to the deadly drone attack that hit a US outpost earlier this week in Jordan.
The attack was conducted by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) umbrella group, which includes several members of the PMU. It came one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani chaired the first meeting of the US-Iraq Higher Military Commission (HMC), which seeks to put an end to US military presence in the country.
The prime minister has been attempting to diplomatically facilitate a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq to set a precedent for ending all armed presence in the country. Baghdad has requested more than once that the US play an advisory role in Iraq rather than maintain the presence of combat forces.