Iraq denies knowing about US-Saudi strikes on pro-Iran groups

Baghdad - Iraq did not approve deadly US-Saudi strikes on its territory, a government spokesman said July 30, after the United States claimed that the attacks against Iran-backed militants were coordinated with Baghdad.

“The government did not have any knowledge” of the strikes and “did not approve any attacks on specific sites or groups in Iraq”, spokesman Haider al-Aboudi said on state TV.

The US-Saudi strikes on July 29 killed at least 20 militants, including five Iranians, according to the Hashed al-Shaabi, an armed Iraqi alliance that includes pro-Iran groups.

US President Donald Trump “says those strikes were coordinated with the Iraqi government”, a Fox News correspondent said after speaking with the US leader.

Aboudi said that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia was “suspended” due to the attacks, which came after Riyadh said its forces had intercepted drones targeting oil facilities, blaming the Iran-backed groups in Iraq.

The strikes follow growing US pressure on Baghdad to disarm those groups, which intervened in support of Tehran during the Middle East war, targeting US facilities in Iraq and across the region.

Zaidi, who came to power in May with Trump’s blessing, has vowed to ensure those groups hand over their weapons.

Tehran-backed armed groups, operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, denied attacking Saudi Arabia, and warned that their response to the attacks in Iraq is “inevitable”.

Washington and Tehran are Iraq’s main allies, but their enmity has long turned the country into a proxy battleground and left successive governments struggling to maintain a delicate balance between the foes. AFP