(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden ought to make Iran pay a direct worth for assaults on U.S. troops by Iranian-backed proxies, a former senior Iranian official within the Trump administration mentioned on Wednesday.
Brian Hook, who served because the State Department’s particular consultant for Iran below former President Donald Trump, instructed lawmakers that the Islamic Republic has traditionally “operated in a grey space, leaving dying to its proxies.” instructed.
“But Iran doesn’t really feel any ache. And till the Iranian regime begins to really feel ache, they may proceed to function with impunity within the grey zone.” added Hook. If the previous Republican president wins towards Biden within the US presidential election on November fifth.
conflict in Israel and Gaza
Since Hamas’ October 7 assault on Israel, Iranian-backed forces have carried out 170 assaults towards U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis have launched at the very least 60 assaults towards industrial ships and the United States and US-aligned warships.
“The Biden administration ought to announce that there will probably be no distinction between Iran and its proxies, and that each one actions of the proxies will fall below the authority of the Iranian regime and be held accountable as in the event that they have been direct assaults,” Hook instructed the Senate. ” he mentioned. Related committees.
Hook additionally famous that the United States has retaliated towards teams such because the Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah and different Iranian-backed proxies, including: “I do not assume Iran itself has endured sufficient direct prices.” Ta.
On January 28, a drone assault by Iran-backed militants on US forces in northeastern Jordan, close to the Syrian border, killed three US service members. The Pentagon mentioned the assault had “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah.
The US navy started retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on February 3 towards targets related to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian-backed militias. Since then, assaults on U.S. forces by these teams in Iraq and Syria have subsided.
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