The US special representative for Iran and senior policy adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said President Trump “took the right measures” after Iran condemned US attacks on the Iran-backed militia. The airstrikes – which reportedly killed 25 people – led to demonstrators attacking the US Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq.
Brian Hook told the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “The Iranian regime organised these protesters, I think, in an act of desperation to try to drive a wedge between the United States and the Iraqi people.
“In fact, that demonstration in front of the embassy is exactly what the Iraqi people are tired of.”
Mr Hook said that if the US did not respond to attacks “we would be inviting more attacks, putting more people’s lives at risk, especially American troops, but also European troops that are there and Iraqi troops”.
He added: “It is certainly the case that the last thing the United States is looking for is more military conflict in the Middle East.
READ MORE: US responds to Iraqi protesters attack on American embassy
“The strikes that were conducted a couple of days ago were defensive.
“We were struck first, an American was killed, American soldiers were injured, and so the President, as Commander in Chief, has responsibility to ensure the safety and security of our troops and our diplomats, and he took the right measures.”
It comes as US President Donald Trump has ordered the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s alert brigade to deploy to Kuwait with immediate effect, following an attack on the American embassy by supporters of an Iranian backed militia.
President Trump warned Iran that it “will pay a very big price” for any damage or loss of life to US citizens in the embassy.
The US leader said: “This is not a warning, it is a threat.”
On Tuesday the US Defence Secretary, Mark Esper, confirmed that 750 paratroopers were already on their way to the Middle East.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the outrage an act of “state-sponsored terrorism” that was “abetted by Iranian proxies” in an interview with CBS News.
The US compound in Baghdad was attacked by some 6,000 demonstrators furious over the deaths of militia members in US air strikes.
On Sunday night US jet fighters bombed five weapon depots in Iraq and Syria controlled by the Iranian backed militia Kataeb Hezbollah, killing at least 25 people and wounding 51.
The raids were in retaliation for last week’s 36-rocket attack which killed an American contractor and injured several others at a base in Kirkuk, 170 miles north of Baghdad.